https://www.silvermanguitars.com/my-journey daily 0.75 2026-03-04 https://www.silvermanguitars.com/my-journey/this-guitar-has-layers monthly 0.5 2026-03-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/fc7ac4ff-4062-47b3-bfcb-dbc563aa9e2e/DSC09943.jpg My Journey - This Guitar Has Layers - Make it stand out The split part of the headstock is bevelled on the front to reveal a layer of maple veneer, which frames the shape and emphasises the curves. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/de33fced-f2db-404c-bd84-850f2b5266cd/DSC00064.jpg My Journey - This Guitar Has Layers - Make it stand out The maple does not extend around the sides. The idea being to subtly draw the focus to the split. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/b5ae2647-cdae-4079-9fd1-84687a22f825/DSC09838.jpg My Journey - This Guitar Has Layers - Make it stand out There are three layers of veneer on the front of the headstock. Ebony on top, and two layers of maple below. How I achieved this effect was to make the centre veneer layer like this. Maple in the middle, and black stained maple veneer outside. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/a259c7ff-fbc3-4484-8b92-305719276b4b/IMG_4845.JPG My Journey - This Guitar Has Layers - Make it stand out Due to the many small variables when glueing the parts together and shaping the headstock, it would be difficult to have the black/white transition fall precisely where I wanted it. Also I needed maple veneer under the part that would be revealed by the little bevel in the centre. So I just aimed the edges of the maple to fall partway up the sides of the headstock. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/ea3ffd02-fd62-4cee-881a-a677715ef7d1/DSC09896.jpg My Journey - This Guitar Has Layers - Make it stand out After shaping the headstock I ended up with this, with the maple wrapping around the top corners. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/90a9be2f-a97f-4fd3-ae49-246a091d8d7f/DSC09924.jpg My Journey - This Guitar Has Layers - Make it stand out I chiseled out the maple, right up to the very tip of the corner. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/9fdfc042-07a4-49ee-88fe-d1f039f2901c/DSC09925.jpg My Journey - This Guitar Has Layers - Make it stand out Then I fit and glued a piece of black veneer. I did the same on the other side of the headstock. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/455a5e4d-c2c3-492f-b4e9-025fe6c06424/DSC00063.jpg My Journey - This Guitar Has Layers - Make it stand out After trimming flush, the result was to have the maple veneer revealed only in the centre of the split. Credit to Michi Matsuda, for allowing me to use his idea of a split headstock. And to Chris Morimoto, for the brilliant idea of showing the maple veneer only in the split. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/0e5d529b-7976-4bc5-a7a7-0ede53042679/DSC09850.jpg My Journey - This Guitar Has Layers - Make it stand out I decided to play around with the purfling on the fretboard edge too, to make the side markers. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/36f68647-48fb-4be7-ab31-cf9597f7aaec/DSC09969.jpg My Journey - This Guitar Has Layers - Make it stand out The idea being to expand on the idea of the side markers from my previous build. First I made a rectangle of Malaysian Blackwood from an offcut of the back, and then wrapped it on 3 sides first with black, and then with maple purfling. I made these layers of purfling thinner than the rest of my guitar, because on some test pieces I preferred the look. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/91d63c70-7fe4-4fd1-aa13-be20365df412/DSC09954.jpg My Journey - This Guitar Has Layers - Make it stand out I then routed a rabbet in the bottom edges of the fretboard, the same depth as two layers of purfling. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/8ad0a791-8bda-430c-91d9-ea5825bdc8c8/DSC09981.jpg My Journey - This Guitar Has Layers - Make it stand out From the purfled rectangle I made earlier, I cut off pieces for each fret marker, and then cut some pockets in the bottom of the rabbet to accept them. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/0fb6bb87-fbe7-4938-a283-892edf313b78/DSC09987.jpg My Journey - This Guitar Has Layers - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/49e7ada0-e706-40ec-a6d8-6ee582fb50d9/DSC09994.jpg My Journey - This Guitar Has Layers - Make it stand out I fit and glued strips of maple tightly between each rectangle. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/e0149af1-0a58-47ab-8c2c-aca845d46984/DSC00004.jpg My Journey - This Guitar Has Layers - Make it stand out Then I trimmed the maple of the rectangle down to the level of the maple strips. Being careful not to touch to black purfling around the rectangle. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/e8ade14b-ce48-487b-a69b-d55ef7107742/DSC00005.jpg My Journey - This Guitar Has Layers - Make it stand out Finally I fit and glued strips of black veneer in between the rectangles, on top of the maple. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1bc26750-dd16-4ef6-ae73-eceeb1a772a2/DSC00014.jpg My Journey - This Guitar Has Layers - Make it stand out The result. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/c50da605-1128-46af-a0da-a453036cc4d0/DSC00009.jpg My Journey - This Guitar Has Layers - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/dbdb56ec-79bd-4c1f-8f59-9f0a70f558ed/DSC00017.jpg My Journey - This Guitar Has Layers - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/14a6ad35-b418-41a2-94d3-d9abe36b3467/DSC00020.jpg My Journey - This Guitar Has Layers - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/2d511a8d-cadb-4869-b503-57d14d23574f/DSC00169.jpg My Journey - This Guitar Has Layers - Make it stand out I made some thin layers of ebony, and cut some squiggles on the edges. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/05aed7da-ef28-4cc3-a7cd-1a257da4eb78/DSC00177.jpg My Journey - This Guitar Has Layers - Make it stand out Four layers for each side. I chose pieces with different colours to add to the depth and layered feel. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/3938dfa4-e71e-406e-9df8-8879941a8278/DSC00180.jpg My Journey - This Guitar Has Layers - Make it stand out I arranged, and glued the layers together. One of the challenges was managing the glue squeeze out. Any visible glue would ruin the effect. To have better control over this, I glued and clamped one layer at a time. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/81335808-bbdf-44fe-917a-b1e254ca5721/IMG_5710.JPG My Journey - This Guitar Has Layers - Make it stand out Four layers on each side, glued to a backing piece, with a spacer in between to create a small gap. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/b85d3a3b-3b15-494d-9227-83d1f6bfd1da/IMG_5759.JPG My Journey - This Guitar Has Layers - Make it stand out From that I cut out a wedge, and glued some ebony around it to make a little box. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/ae496a00-eb01-4dfd-8f6c-5f4bc181e3ad/DSC00203.jpg My Journey - This Guitar Has Layers - Make it stand out I cut a pocket in the tail block and inlayed my wedge. I was planning on doing something with depth here, so I had made my tail block a bit thicker to accommodate this. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/cc738f67-cfc9-403a-93f1-bafe7d997230/DSC00217.jpg My Journey - This Guitar Has Layers - Make it stand out Then I cut a little shelf all around, to miter in some purfling and drop in a frame on top. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/de958bbe-7380-4268-8e27-74f344814939/DSC00226.jpg My Journey - This Guitar Has Layers - Make it stand out First I fit the purfling. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/82e31b60-e7f6-476e-96e7-058b721d5b52/DSC00229.jpg My Journey - This Guitar Has Layers - Make it stand out Then I fit the wedge for the frame. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/ee83746b-9d8a-49fa-b47c-911bc2f34a60/DSC00230.jpg My Journey - This Guitar Has Layers - Make it stand out After fitting the wedge, I cut out the center part. I glued it in, sanded it flush, and voila… https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/297f928d-4570-460d-b09c-b372c3d632cc/DSC00303.jpg My Journey - This Guitar Has Layers - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1a6354b4-7afd-4c37-ae70-6af7dac2cb53/DSC00271.jpg My Journey - This Guitar Has Layers - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/9136dfeb-5242-468d-92ed-bba75848ee40/DSC00310.jpg My Journey - This Guitar Has Layers - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/4b5d4f76-707b-4770-846b-4bb6d7100ef5/DSC00348.jpg My Journey - This Guitar Has Layers - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/f0c67226-ac88-4289-978c-1b1259fac410/DSC00357.jpg My Journey - This Guitar Has Layers - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.silvermanguitars.com/my-journey/simply-a-label monthly 0.5 2025-12-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/56d51aa5-071f-4934-91dc-ab75866ad676/DSC09628.jpg My Journey - Simply a Label - Make it stand out The addition of the floating back brace for this build didn’t allow me to do a label in the same way as my previous guitar, gluing it directly to the centerstrip. I tried many iterations before I found something that I liked. The design I settled on was majorly influenced by discussions with and help from Chris Morimoto. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/80f17ec4-0031-4c0d-a109-20e3c4907078/IMG_4405.jpg My Journey - Simply a Label - Make it stand out To make the label, I first bent a piece of ebony, and then scooped it out and shaped it in a way that to my eye gave an organic feel. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/b7093128-13a4-461d-ad5a-b534aeecf0c6/IMG_4495.jpg My Journey - Simply a Label - Make it stand out Then I signed a piece of paper with white ink, and glued it to another piece of ebony. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/8bfae2bf-7b51-4141-9254-722f200f8180/IMG_4504.jpg My Journey - Simply a Label - Make it stand out I shaped the outline of the signature piece to fit the curved piece. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1c716cf0-a895-48f6-80e5-385276164b9f/IMG_4505.jpg My Journey - Simply a Label - Make it stand out I also rounded the bottom of the signature piece to match the scoop of the curved piece. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/2ce84370-38b1-4685-9852-d566e1a198a3/IMG_4507.jpg My Journey - Simply a Label - Make it stand out Then I glued them together. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/4544ffe0-f8c8-4e73-8b6c-727ee8f740d4/DSC09759.jpg My Journey - Simply a Label - Make it stand out And clamped it with the weight of a plane. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/8f07ac38-2e1a-48fc-83cc-15c52b798b85/IMG_4511.jpg My Journey - Simply a Label - Make it stand out For the base of the label, I made some rectangles out of offcuts from the Malaysian Blackwood back. I glued them together with a piece of veneer in between to create a small gap for a feeling of 3D-ness. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/6d44c983-5c59-4b81-ba09-c1c4cb752a6d/IMG_4517.jpg My Journey - Simply a Label - Make it stand out This piece has a notch on the bottom to fit over the floating brace. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/ab0af246-460b-4dc0-9cf2-1281070b7395/IMG_4521.jpg My Journey - Simply a Label - Make it stand out It was glued to the bottom of the Malaysian Blackwood rectangles, taking care to keep all the pieces lined up with each other. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/d0d64ed9-0772-4488-ad4e-5a7d00cd9fff/DSC09765.jpg My Journey - Simply a Label - Make it stand out Because of the height and delicate nature of the label, it would get in the way during the build process. It had to be removable. I installed tiny but strong rare earth magnets in the floating back brace and label, to make it easy to do that. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/de4815b0-cdf8-4dec-a43a-c67f6d09bc84/IMG_4551.jpg My Journey - Simply a Label - Make it stand out With the magnets installed. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/d4344dea-733c-44a1-addb-1106158dc5be/IMG_4687.jpg My Journey - Simply a Label - Make it stand out I covered the magnets with a piece of paper glued to the floating brace, and trimmed it flush with a knife. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/512dc0f8-585d-44dd-bddf-a464e7ad0661/IMG_4522.jpg My Journey - Simply a Label - Make it stand out Then I made this little riser to attach the curved piece to the base. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/50f15cbe-0e3d-40aa-b73a-4cff901c38bb/IMG_4525.jpg My Journey - Simply a Label - Make it stand out I first glued it to the curved piece. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/053fbe53-985e-4a1a-9dba-97c2f02177d3/IMG_4538.jpg My Journey - Simply a Label - Make it stand out And then with the base in place on the magnets, I glued on the curved piece, being careful to keep it lined up with the floating brace. This was a tricky one to clamp, so I did a rubbed joint with titebond. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/2c4e6b47-8ce5-4e74-a2e0-e6833352a954/IMG_4548.jpg My Journey - Simply a Label - Make it stand out The finished label. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/3d79f3ba-69dd-401b-8e6c-694cb3624a44/IMG_4554.jpg My Journey - Simply a Label - Make it stand out To keep the look as clean as possible, I decided not to put the serial number or year on the label. I will add that information to the magnetic cover I will make for the neck bolts, which will be visible through the soundhole if you look towards the headblock. It is also on the piece of paper I used to cover the magnets on the floating brace. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/2ab1e6e9-6011-409a-9019-6e4c320d7c6c/DSC09771.jpg My Journey - Simply a Label - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/ddb739a2-196f-4240-bbad-15e9496253c3/DSC09727.jpg My Journey - Simply a Label - Make it stand out At this point I fit the top to the rim, and glued them together. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1b30d2d2-3d93-4809-82cc-e3005d52d49a/DSC09729.jpg My Journey - Simply a Label - Make it stand out And then trimmed the top flush. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/8f8f8183-8a2a-4b5a-874c-cffc613b2665/DSC09735.jpg My Journey - Simply a Label - Make it stand out This is a special moment for me, the first time you can see the outline of the guitar. With the top glued to the rim, it’s now time for the voicing. Being my second build here, after learning the Somogyi voicing method, there were some adjustments I wanted to make from the first one. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/34e7c03a-5c24-4205-b262-bb53cc3b9947/DSC09797.jpg My Journey - Simply a Label - Make it stand out Then I glued on the back, closing the box. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/ec3ddb48-946c-4d07-a13f-9073a44c6f35/DSC09825.jpg My Journey - Simply a Label - Make it stand out With the box now closed, I could install the binding. I made a batch of ebony binding with black/white purfling by glueing a piece of ebony to black and white veneers, then slicing it into strips. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/84274b5b-0007-41b0-9b56-80845190c625/DSC09827.jpg My Journey - Simply a Label - Make it stand out I cut the binding and purfling channels on the guitar. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/0f04623a-a30c-4b45-adbf-53649efc9676/DSC09833.jpg My Journey - Simply a Label - Make it stand out Then the binding and purfling could be bent, and installed. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1eedf3dd-e3fa-494e-9688-b420c641b74f/DSC09839.jpg My Journey - Simply a Label - Make it stand out The whole binding process is a ton of work, with a lot of careful fitting and cutting of miters. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/0f2503fa-8841-49c3-83c1-3f50e67da9db/DSC09841.jpg My Journey - Simply a Label - Make it stand out That’s most of the process of constructing the body done. Coming up next, making and attaching the neck! https://www.silvermanguitars.com/my-journey/natural-design monthly 0.5 2025-10-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/5c07643f-6824-425f-8a09-962e73d122bf/IMG_2305.JPG My Journey - Natural Design - Make it stand out It was mid spring when I collected the leaves, and I was surprised to find a full range of leaf colours. All of them within a short walk from the shop. I learned that in order to dry and preserve leaves, you could use silica gel. I got a bag of that and left the leaves buried for a few weeks. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/0c5947cd-060d-4b5f-90cc-bd4c672d82d4/DSC08515.jpg My Journey - Natural Design - Make it stand out When I pulled the leaves out they were quite dry, and they retained a lot of their colour. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/a6a63738-f152-4f91-8e46-cbf9951fd490/IMG_3925.jpg My Journey - Natural Design - Make it stand out I arranged the leaves under a rosette shaped cut-out. I tried many arrangements, saving the ones I liked, until I found one that I decided to go with. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/2b384c1a-905c-4c22-9122-72043ecd9f29/DSC08801.jpg My Journey - Natural Design - Make it stand out I held the leaves in place, and cut them out for the rosette. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/d08f0b2e-fd7a-4ade-a068-377d68301db6/IMG_2966.JPG My Journey - Natural Design - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/20246174-39c8-4b3e-a7df-cd3ce044bd3a/DSC08806.jpg My Journey - Natural Design - Make it stand out I attached some wood onto an ebony backing to contain the epoxy, and held the leaves down with the same rings that I used to cut them out. I used special marine grade epoxy with UV protection, which will help to preserve the colour of the leaves over time. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/3fc009f0-f9b1-4ad9-ad28-ae0381f82960/IMG_3031+2.JPG My Journey - Natural Design - Make it stand out After the epoxy dried, I sanded it down to the thickness needed for the rosette. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/d267e9fd-5871-4a19-bb99-8a318bbaa078/IMG_3136.JPG My Journey - Natural Design - Make it stand out I then cut out the ring for the rosette. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/c8b2936e-874d-4190-b35c-a0c74afc161e/DSC08945.jpg My Journey - Natural Design - Make it stand out And glued some purfling to it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/74f73401-9373-46d4-b6f6-fa2bc71d8c2c/Final+Rosette+Design.JPG My Journey - Natural Design - Make it stand out I was using Adobe Illustrator as a visualisation tool, and while experimenting with different ideas I added a dark gradient over the rosette, like a shadow being cast. I really liked that look, in combination with this particular orientation of the circle of leaves. I decided to go ahead with that idea. When it comes time to apply the finish, I will airbrush the gradient. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/27ed34f7-0e1e-4a05-8101-05ba20261700/DSC08951.jpg My Journey - Natural Design - Make it stand out Inlaying the rosette. The top already had its soundhole reinforcing donut glued in place underneath the top, which is needed to have enough material to inlay into. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/887ccea5-3426-4305-be76-b3d7a0f92516/DSC08960.jpg My Journey - Natural Design - Make it stand out After sanding the rosette flush with the top, the sanding scratch reduced the transparency of the epoxy somewhat. The transparency will return when the clear finish as applied, but it makes it hard to photograph. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/63ef7f27-4b22-40d2-8b32-67f6a5cadc43/DSC09511.jpg My Journey - Natural Design - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/057f33f0-401a-47f7-9e93-0535622f8770/DSC09528.jpg My Journey - Natural Design - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/da993de3-126e-4d1f-b496-477193f773ca/DSC09538.jpg My Journey - Natural Design - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/595f5e74-c87d-411f-b9f4-ca2c4d277064/IMG_3906.JPG My Journey - Natural Design - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.silvermanguitars.com/my-journey/multitasking-six-guitars-at-a-time monthly 0.5 2025-07-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/aa2b67aa-0d30-4152-8697-554c9d509ccd/DSC08675.jpg My Journey - Multitasking, Six Guitars at a Time - Make it stand out Here I’m glueing the head block on the Padauk build. I’ve been building this guitar and the Malaysian Blackwood one more or less together. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/b0c696f7-9455-45de-b81c-a7582924a00e/DSC08686.jpg My Journey - Multitasking, Six Guitars at a Time - Make it stand out Centerstrips for the backs. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/5ceddf8b-74e2-4e65-b7de-8ad21f79d96b/DSC08819.jpg My Journey - Multitasking, Six Guitars at a Time - Make it stand out The current state of the Padauk build. The Malaysian Blackwood one is looking similar, except for the rosette which is still in progress. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/5baeee3c-9532-49b0-8142-6b86a758632d/DSC08709.jpg My Journey - Multitasking, Six Guitars at a Time - Make it stand out Glueing the fretboard on this Somogyi Modified Dreadnought. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/0d11a37f-cfdc-4ec3-ba63-d7ce7d63175c/DSC08820.jpg My Journey - Multitasking, Six Guitars at a Time - Make it stand out This Somogyi 00 recently came back from the finisher. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/c7b034ae-bf3f-4b97-ae97-b2531ede6767/DSC08710.jpg My Journey - Multitasking, Six Guitars at a Time - Make it stand out The 00 needs a bridge, here I’m sanding a radius into the bottom, to match the dome of the top. Then the top of the bridge gets shaped. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/9f9951cf-63ea-4c70-b6ef-babb983b41bf/DSC08822.jpg My Journey - Multitasking, Six Guitars at a Time - Make it stand out Finish is removed under the bridge footprint before glueing. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/7d1fbf67-762e-4718-b05e-49d6d5e5d21a/IMG_2777.jpg My Journey - Multitasking, Six Guitars at a Time - Make it stand out My first guitar sold, but before it went out the door I wanted to improve the top finish. So, I decided to remove the bridge and re finish the top. Here I’m using a heat lamp to soften the bridge glue in order to remove it. There is tinfoil over cardboard to protect the rest of the top from the heat. The light was reflecting brightly off of the tin foil hence the sunnies. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/a513ccca-3912-45cd-ba77-f2d9c7a2e5f5/IMG_2778.jpg My Journey - Multitasking, Six Guitars at a Time - Make it stand out Bridge removed successfully. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/d1962469-77d5-4330-b74d-b78863d39861/IMG_2841.jpg My Journey - Multitasking, Six Guitars at a Time - Make it stand out I sanded the top back to bare wood, and here is right after I started building up a new French polish finish. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/355cb79a-9596-430e-9f63-6c6d852b8a4b/DSC08831.jpg My Journey - Multitasking, Six Guitars at a Time - Make it stand out And the top with a shiny new finish. I also did some minor touchup work on the back and sides finish, and re oiled the neck. Next step is to get the bridge back on. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/4ab936e1-9d14-4c95-9c61-dc0eaed1f259/DSC08843.jpg My Journey - Multitasking, Six Guitars at a Time - Make it stand out This 1986 Somogyi was in the shop for some re voicing work. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/fe432a13-1668-445e-bb0a-efc5c7f2d030/IMG_3057.jpg My Journey - Multitasking, Six Guitars at a Time - Make it stand out I had the privilege of observing Ervin going through this re voicing process. At various stages Ervin would show me what he had done inside, and I could listen to how the tap tone response changed as a result of the brace shaping through the sound hole. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/52df860d-d307-4cda-a2ac-e125101e6a30/DSC08847.jpg My Journey - Multitasking, Six Guitars at a Time - Make it stand out Then new strings and a setup. I played the guitar a little bit before the re voicing, and there was a big difference to the sound as a result of this work. https://www.silvermanguitars.com/my-journey/squares monthly 0.5 2025-06-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/fc349c85-6d40-4f0c-9eeb-54acd5d2ec05/DSC08583.jpg My Journey - Squares 2.0 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/9533e7c8-f728-44f3-9e41-a4a14a1b7d88/DSC08589.jpg My Journey - Squares 2.0 - Make it stand out Cocobolo instead of ebony… https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/ed0f3a15-3f65-45fa-a8fc-671f5971f7cf/DSC08602.jpg My Journey - Squares 2.0 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/7e590447-1134-4cf3-8f0b-d76e79cbeff0/DSC08610.jpg My Journey - Squares 2.0 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/3f60f630-a2c7-48ec-899b-9cf92f7131a3/DSC08629.jpg My Journey - Squares 2.0 - Make it stand out And one square with Padauk! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/140f22de-f8bb-438f-80a4-607398da4954/DSC08633.jpg My Journey - Squares 2.0 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1737f387-d32e-4223-9d6a-5535f42dea5a/DSC08635.jpg My Journey - Squares 2.0 - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.silvermanguitars.com/my-journey/starting-two-new-builds monthly 0.5 2025-05-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/71354dc3-0f68-4778-821a-2102fc0f97e1/DSC07465.jpg My Journey - Starting Two New Builds - Make it stand out Swiss Moon Spruce for the Modified Dreadnought. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/c48c2b40-3d3d-4f8e-8071-80113eaeae39/DSC07473.jpg My Journey - Starting Two New Builds - Make it stand out Malaysian Blackwood. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/677306a9-8c90-41cc-b226-395f4498c204/DSC08335.jpg My Journey - Starting Two New Builds - Make it stand out The client from Taiwan wants a non-cutaway OM, with Padauk and Sitka Spruce from the Somogyi wood collection. Ervin was kind enough to agree to sell me some. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/eb18e8ba-4e1f-4c4b-9c20-0427790d6ea4/DSC08330.jpg My Journey - Starting Two New Builds - Make it stand out Working on two builds at the same time has some advantages for efficiency. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/820676d4-60b2-4e40-ae22-6696046e9b4e/DSC08375.jpg My Journey - Starting Two New Builds - Make it stand out Padauk and the Mahogany inner sides bent and ready for laminating. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/e5e8e3d6-fc81-48b9-b772-62784ed84164/DSC08388.jpg My Journey - Starting Two New Builds - Make it stand out These builds will have solid linings. I bend and laminate three layers, for both the treble and bass side of each guitar. Plus three more for the cutaway lining on the Modified Dreadnought. A total of fifteen pieces of wood to bend, just for the linings on two guitars. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/2cd6e2d7-4315-44ae-9f56-9659a320e02d/DSC08235.jpg My Journey - Starting Two New Builds - Make it stand out The linings for the Modified Dreadnought, cut into strips that match the dome of the top and back, and ready for fitting. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/ed0c55ec-6383-41bb-a036-4d48a07548fb/DSC08266.jpg My Journey - Starting Two New Builds - Make it stand out I wrote an article for Fretboard Journal #56, going into detail about my experience here at the Somogyi shop. It was my first time doing something like that, so it was very exciting to finally receive the magazine! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/0ca7a999-3186-4832-8d4a-05f7b6f0ea83/DSC08271.jpg My Journey - Starting Two New Builds - Make it stand out There’s some other great content in there too, it's well worth reading! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/4b21149d-5d55-41c6-9ed1-8f2f8e3232f2/DSC08194.jpg My Journey - Starting Two New Builds - Make it stand out Of course I’m still working on the Somogyi guitars, shaping another headstock. I like this part of the build. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/940b6e83-8328-474a-b9a1-9ef448397378/DSC08229.jpg My Journey - Starting Two New Builds - Make it stand out Glueing the binding onto a Somogyi fretboard. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/d2cb301b-4795-4351-ba0b-3ad14b1f4f37/DSC08286.jpg My Journey - Starting Two New Builds - Make it stand out Cutting the mortise. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/385f9f33-b2df-4703-8a37-e82a3f4b5936/DSC08293.jpg My Journey - Starting Two New Builds - Make it stand out Setting the neck. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/36f274c8-4f0a-43bb-918e-edb72332527e/DSC08296.jpg My Journey - Starting Two New Builds - Make it stand out We a visitor at the Somogyi workshop recently, who brought a Somogyi Espalda guitar from 2014. I had the chance to play it and make a little recording. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/0d387ee2-32ed-4373-b8a4-8d0d171fa117/DSC08391.jpg My Journey - Starting Two New Builds - Make it stand out And I had my birthday last weekend, and got this AWESOME gift from Chris Morimoto. The monkey plays the cymbals when you pull the tape. https://www.silvermanguitars.com/my-journey/full-build-video monthly 0.5 2025-04-22 https://www.silvermanguitars.com/my-journey/artisan-guitar-show monthly 0.5 2025-04-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/f83c94ec-2425-4aa0-b994-d2b527caca73/IMG_1889.JPG My Journey - Artisan Guitar Show - Make it stand out My guitar was completed just in time. A few days later, I brought it to the Artisan Guitar Show, in Harrisburg Pennsylvania. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/2ebeb912-fb62-4d69-9d7c-2983e72c449e/88246569434887263.JPG My Journey - Artisan Guitar Show - Make it stand out The guitar and I arrived safely in Harrisburg, and I met my cousin Aaron Wald, who also happened to be a luthier exhibiting at the show. We set up and had a chance to meet some of the other exhibitors. A friendlier group of people would be hard to find! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/27b05e4d-9591-43b1-8238-060b4f40081d/1263828126886878729.JPG My Journey - Artisan Guitar Show - Make it stand out My setup for Artisan. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/53194ade-cc85-4af9-973e-aeb83b7c1dc0/IMG_7252.JPEG My Journey - Artisan Guitar Show - Make it stand out Hanging out after the show. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/bcdfa14b-c50a-46c4-8020-9c1be104d84d/IMG_1897.JPG My Journey - Artisan Guitar Show - Make it stand out Dan Erlewine! https://www.silvermanguitars.com/my-journey/build-complete monthly 0.5 2025-04-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/2149682e-217a-4c2e-92c4-eb588843f6d7/DSC08023.jpg My Journey - Build Complete - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/78b8a790-b34e-4d34-ae06-9e3bf358a190/DSC08024.jpg My Journey - Build Complete - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/102c6a52-edc1-48ce-9e4e-a720bc4d6b80/DSC08027.jpg My Journey - Build Complete - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/57c20cdc-6ff7-4611-869c-b90ca8ad837e/DSC08028.jpg My Journey - Build Complete - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/fe74ad7b-0609-456b-9cf1-38b0a83239d8/DSC08082.jpg My Journey - Build Complete - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/f8de682b-d860-4a03-816a-8bb4933b4f03/DSC08035-HDR.jpg My Journey - Build Complete - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/01b3fae6-0c39-4697-9ac4-8bc0824092d3/DSC08090.jpg My Journey - Build Complete - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/4b611cbd-d06e-4bc4-98bc-74137eb73e21/DSC08044.jpg My Journey - Build Complete - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/dc58230a-b2c9-458b-919e-b6834db78f7b/DSC08045.jpg My Journey - Build Complete - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/f669d0c6-2bda-4ef5-8d8d-e8a73bf1598b/DSC08079.jpg My Journey - Build Complete - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/026fad7c-61c7-403a-87bb-62b9913fa7bd/DSC08075.jpg My Journey - Build Complete - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/79958d77-a499-4558-8974-32e38d4f0eda/DSC08068.jpg My Journey - Build Complete - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/c9e6e978-2289-4f2e-9015-fae1d68b48f1/DSC08069.jpg My Journey - Build Complete - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/92c374a6-4985-4283-931f-b23457114456/DSC08059.jpg My Journey - Build Complete - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/652dd2e8-ec2d-4296-abf7-4d75685133e1/DSC08065.jpg My Journey - Build Complete - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/6fc4a9ce-4cd6-435a-8f09-78aecc1f97d1/DSC08072.jpg My Journey - Build Complete - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/81ace671-3539-44a6-9f24-8c6d424e9c37/DSC08074.jpg My Journey - Build Complete - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/4150f0f9-71fd-4780-86e0-7275007a57c9/DSC08109.jpg My Journey - Build Complete - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/7fc90497-079e-4efc-bf17-a387874a92e6/DSC08103.jpg My Journey - Build Complete - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/f7e9cf1e-3911-4556-b6ea-26e275a71d45/DSC08096.jpg My Journey - Build Complete - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/3420f8c7-7b5f-4f57-bd6a-fabc5a2850eb/DSC08099.jpg My Journey - Build Complete - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/97ae50e6-e8ca-4cfb-847b-0cd49f5c69e6/DSC08106.jpg My Journey - Build Complete - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.silvermanguitars.com/my-journey/tone-analysis-with-ervin-somogyi monthly 0.5 2025-03-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/a07a9b9b-84a4-44e5-adea-8f955f8ef4e7/DSC07845.jpg My Journey - Tone Analysis with Ervin Somogyi - Make it stand out I copied Chris Morimoto’s clamping caul, making little feet which conformed to the carved top of the bridge, and capping those with another piece of wood. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/6e281825-ab76-4b94-ba7f-0fda2063a5e9/DSC07849.jpg My Journey - Tone Analysis with Ervin Somogyi - Make it stand out Anything I can do to speed up the process of getting the clamps on is helpful, as with hide glue there is very little open time. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/97d1e9c0-7b57-4fd9-8e2c-4966d5e70280/DSC07866.jpg My Journey - Tone Analysis with Ervin Somogyi - Make it stand out With the bridge glued, I then attached the neck and tuners, and made the saddle and nut. Finally, after about a year working on this guitar, I could hear it for the first time. https://www.silvermanguitars.com/my-journey/adventures-in-guitar-finishing monthly 0.5 2025-01-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/bae16155-df30-4333-9c8b-28205fec11ee/DSC07821.jpg My Journey - Adventures in Guitar Finishing - Make it stand out I’ve been continuing working on this Somogyi MD, installing the binding and purfling on the back. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/e9f482f4-1bea-4090-87fb-fda6af785687/IMG_1267.jpg My Journey - Adventures in Guitar Finishing - Make it stand out After removing the tape and trimming flush, I saw that I hadn’t done a good job with one of the miters. This will need to be fixed. I messed up the easier one too! The miter on the left side of the centerstrip is challenging because it get’s cut “on the fly”. Meaning I leave it overly long, glue and tape the purfling and binding in place almost up to the end, cut the miter to final fit, and continue gluing all the way to the end. The purfling piece to the right of the centerstrip gets inserted from the end. I must have pushed it in too far, or didn’t do a good enough job fitting it in the first place. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/63642c2e-9c67-4dc0-84e1-afb57219e115/IMG_1270.jpg My Journey - Adventures in Guitar Finishing - Make it stand out To fix it I need to remove the offending piece of purfling and miter in a new one. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/915ddd61-d365-41ca-8750-0acc714da519/IMG_1271.jpg My Journey - Adventures in Guitar Finishing - Make it stand out With the purfling removed to an adequate depth, and the miter on the centerstrip cleaned up, I’m ready to fit another piece of purfling. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/d7b03316-6ea3-4cfb-b04d-21d1cb7ddc99/IMG_1274.jpg My Journey - Adventures in Guitar Finishing - Make it stand out Fresh purfling mitered and glued in. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/baa6e89d-d957-4d8e-8dc9-a0b4f4872299/DSC07739.jpg My Journey - Adventures in Guitar Finishing - Make it stand out This Somogyi from 1980 came into the shop to get re-voiced and some other minor work. After Ervin completed the re voicing process, I made a new nut and did a setup. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/8da84e26-aec1-470e-b81c-7d64a4463416/DSC07675.jpg My Journey - Adventures in Guitar Finishing - Make it stand out The bridge for my guitar, ready to be carved. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/20fd81eb-8914-4367-a260-31ae06d2a843/DSC07682.jpg My Journey - Adventures in Guitar Finishing - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/d6157c25-089a-499a-8a0d-88d04ad7e883/DSC07733.jpg My Journey - Adventures in Guitar Finishing - Make it stand out I wanted a sense of rotational movement in the lines of the bridge, to mirror that of the rosette. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/39c00b73-59cf-4508-87e6-08b8a5f1489f/IMG_0968.jpg My Journey - Adventures in Guitar Finishing - Make it stand out During the second to last week of December, COVID. In a way it was good timing. Things were quieter around the shop, so I didn’t have to isolate in my room, as I did the first time I had COVID here. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/95099125-801a-46d5-8e5e-23238fec52cc/IMG_1042.jpg My Journey - Adventures in Guitar Finishing - Make it stand out My sister visited me from New Zealand over New Years. I had some time off and we did a bit of sightseeing around the Bay Area. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/d57de9a6-ae10-490c-b585-6159d3bbca05/IMG_1059.jpg My Journey - Adventures in Guitar Finishing - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/def2b0bd-e7de-4607-bf1d-58f12eda7939/IMG_1003.jpg My Journey - Adventures in Guitar Finishing - Make it stand out Spotted at UC Berkeley. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/c4270d67-d014-4244-a425-83e89b170ce6/IMG_1240.jpg My Journey - Adventures in Guitar Finishing - Make it stand out Got to see Marcus Miller. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/c65e8c91-559e-471a-9398-60e0a270e92d/IMG_0847.jpg My Journey - Adventures in Guitar Finishing - Make it stand out Ervin has many talents. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/5076b53b-8465-415f-9b38-adfe1f939364/IMG_1265.jpg My Journey - Adventures in Guitar Finishing - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/11e9959d-3ff1-4c24-8284-8dbe06021cc7/DSC07763.jpg My Journey - Adventures in Guitar Finishing - Make it stand out The hallway of the Somogyi shop. Even now after almost a year here, I notice new things on the wall. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/0f302b7c-fa50-46fa-a6c7-27654e6a1eb0/IMG_1278.jpg My Journey - Adventures in Guitar Finishing - Make it stand out Some of Ervin’s humour. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/ea6ec67c-5a3e-413d-8afc-f749d34fd2f8/DSC07693.jpg My Journey - Adventures in Guitar Finishing - Make it stand out I’ve been working on my finish. The neck was pore filled and then oiled. It feels suuuuper smooth. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/a1c2b7e1-f356-41c4-9eb4-e380b04750bc/DSC07513.jpg My Journey - Adventures in Guitar Finishing - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/6d966f9a-d473-4b3c-8cb1-ea9a71deee49/DSC07686.jpg My Journey - Adventures in Guitar Finishing - Make it stand out In December I started building up shellac on the body. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/9f9f5911-a2b2-488c-98e0-a51633542ae0/DSC07787.jpg My Journey - Adventures in Guitar Finishing - Make it stand out I left it for a few weeks over New Years, then I sanded and buffed the finish. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/cd05b106-0daf-4f02-9cdc-18463472897a/DSC07783.jpg My Journey - Adventures in Guitar Finishing - Make it stand out It was looking really good! I was just about to glue the bridge on when I noticed something… https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/be89c0f9-22d1-435d-a377-58f015999361/DSC07819.jpg My Journey - Adventures in Guitar Finishing - Make it stand out In one corner of the top finish, some micro crazing has appeared. I think I built up the finish too thick and fast in this area. I was double coating it in the hope of preventing a buff through on the edge. Lesson learned. Now it’s time to learn how to fix it. This is my first time finishing with shellac. While it’s great when things go smoothly, I’m here to grow my skills, and pushing myself to try new things is the only way to achieve this. Part of that process is experiencing setbacks, finding out where the limits are, and learning how to recover. https://www.silvermanguitars.com/my-journey/whats-going-on-in-the-somogyi-shop monthly 0.5 2024-12-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/befb9a03-1c2a-4d55-9278-c4a695677b5b/DSC07214.jpg My Journey - What’s Going On in the Somogyi Shop - Make it stand out Somogyi 00. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/51821c36-daac-4f67-9130-7cadb0709593/DSC07275.jpg My Journey - What’s Going On in the Somogyi Shop - Make it stand out Back of the Somogyi 00. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/f50ad6cd-ba5b-4de8-8b3f-0d4ea2dfc3dc/DSC07367.jpg My Journey - What’s Going On in the Somogyi Shop - Make it stand out Using Ervin’s jig to drill indexing holes, which will be used to locate the bridge. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/03378d4e-ecf3-49f1-abe7-0850e59c836a/DSC07277.jpg My Journey - What’s Going On in the Somogyi Shop - Make it stand out Endgraft on the Somogyi 00. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/b2b15969-cd90-4749-8b9c-7ffb67e3e089/DSC07451.jpg My Journey - What’s Going On in the Somogyi Shop - Make it stand out The Somogyi bending iron. I wonder how many Brazilian Rosewood sides have been shaped here. I first hand bend the binding, until it can fit into the bending jig. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/76026e1c-52ca-46cc-b757-13c587bdc633/DSC07406.jpg My Journey - What’s Going On in the Somogyi Shop - Make it stand out Then I bend the binding in the jig, which gets it pretty close. It will still probably need some minor touching up by hand. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1c4579d9-90c0-4cbb-bb13-9cdf2a3f8d50/DSC07397.jpg My Journey - What’s Going On in the Somogyi Shop - Make it stand out Binding bent, and guitar ready for binding channels. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/d0c8541d-6ec6-4786-aa7d-be0151158b7a/DSC07422.jpg My Journey - What’s Going On in the Somogyi Shop - Make it stand out The Somogyi binding cutter. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/fe6fa026-7c1f-4691-b557-e3bbba9a81bf/DSC07438.jpg My Journey - What’s Going On in the Somogyi Shop - Make it stand out After cutting the binding, and the cutaway tips. Next up is to install the binding… https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/66e62043-86da-4cc0-b61d-ae20b4024d1a/DSC07312.jpg My Journey - What’s Going On in the Somogyi Shop - Make it stand out Silverman #1, sanded and ready for finish. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/b25265b9-e8ba-4ed1-aa29-0f91c4550fbb/DSC07325.jpg My Journey - What’s Going On in the Somogyi Shop - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/a9249410-880f-4e7b-b9d7-0112082fe4c2/DSC07328.jpg My Journey - What’s Going On in the Somogyi Shop - Make it stand out Rosette details. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/686c535c-d797-434b-a6f6-1731235531ba/DSC07322.jpg My Journey - What’s Going On in the Somogyi Shop - Make it stand out Label details. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/9ee13954-e88a-4de5-8443-f95bc20ca712/DSC07308.jpg My Journey - What’s Going On in the Somogyi Shop - Make it stand out Endgraft details. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/5a96dc8b-02e0-452d-8397-0abcb793eea2/DSC07340.jpg My Journey - What’s Going On in the Somogyi Shop - Make it stand out Indian Rosewood back and sides. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/8e66672b-930e-463f-8873-2ab6d79352d4/DSC07348.jpg My Journey - What’s Going On in the Somogyi Shop - Make it stand out Starting on the epoxy pore fill. It took 3 coats to completely fill them. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/38c2e119-c5aa-4c76-a07f-10d44ccd5d95/DSC07361.jpg My Journey - What’s Going On in the Somogyi Shop - Make it stand out Sanding the epoxy, until it is removed from the surface and remains only in the pores. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/9fbe0563-671c-4dbe-874c-a51550ec0c12/DSC07388.jpg My Journey - What’s Going On in the Somogyi Shop - Make it stand out The neck will get an oil finish. I pore filled it too, for extra smoothness. It’s mounted on a tripod ball-head, which makes it easy to reposition. https://www.silvermanguitars.com/my-journey/bridge-over-troubled-water monthly 0.5 2024-11-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/cbfe4324-1db8-40f3-8ec5-1d59b381de1d/DSC06450.jpg My Journey - Bridge Over Troubled Water - Make it stand out Half Dome, Yosemite. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/f90defc2-b042-4a28-904f-f5982cb3fc37/DSC06820.jpg My Journey - Bridge Over Troubled Water - Make it stand out Sequoia tree. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/875a039c-4989-4460-be89-c5b45596b4a8/IMG_0506.jpg My Journey - Bridge Over Troubled Water - Make it stand out Carmel beach. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/a1907bff-d9b3-4ca3-b329-62b38cf9a9a5/DSC06998.jpg My Journey - Bridge Over Troubled Water - Make it stand out It was nice to get a bit of time away from the shop, and see some of the amazing things California has to offer. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/5b27c0fd-170f-4fc3-85b2-28ddce975c85/DSC07210.jpg My Journey - Bridge Over Troubled Water - Make it stand out Mahogany for the prototype bridge. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/2d64da0e-da63-42d6-bf73-7b26aa583e6a/DSC07218.jpg My Journey - Bridge Over Troubled Water - Make it stand out Drawing some lines to figure out how I’m going to carve it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/6ed22b74-2d44-4dd2-a5a2-063fdcb87e25/DSC07220.jpg My Journey - Bridge Over Troubled Water - Make it stand out Carving to see what it will look like. I like the yin/yang effect that is going on with the shadows. The curves on the wings are borrowed from the tip of the headstock, and there is a sense of rotational movement that echos the rosette. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/5f6b9c5a-4203-44dc-8f00-c1d8c851c932/DSC07228.jpg My Journey - Bridge Over Troubled Water - Make it stand out Now that I’ve got a bridge design, I can go ahead and make the bridge. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/94f4bdba-da0e-44e4-880c-1dfd1caf25c8/DSC07229.jpg My Journey - Bridge Over Troubled Water - Make it stand out Routing the saddle slot. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/cd6b6667-ae4e-4be4-9811-1dd4a5161271/DSC07239.jpg My Journey - Bridge Over Troubled Water - Make it stand out I clamped the bridge in the correct place, and drilled two holes through the bridge and the top. This will make it easy when it comes time to align it for glueing. I haven’t carved the bridge yet, I’ll save that for later. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/5e0fadc9-1f71-49d2-9370-a6d7ac57be6b/DSC07242.jpg My Journey - Bridge Over Troubled Water - Make it stand out After locating the bridge, I was able to sand the top. I’m enjoying seeing the guitar in a cleaned up state. https://www.silvermanguitars.com/my-journey/on-making-mistakes monthly 0.5 2024-10-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/481711e1-9806-475d-916d-b0bc56f720fa/DSC06074.jpg My Journey - On Making Mistakes - Make it stand out The first iteration was maple, inlayed into the back of the fretboard before it was glued on, and revealed on the edge to mark the frets. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/c317322a-9c71-46e2-a593-43254a955c90/DSC06089.jpg My Journey - On Making Mistakes - Make it stand out After trimming the neck edges flush, I realised that the side markers weren't as visible as I thought they would be. I didn't want the player to struggle to navigate the fretboard, so I decided to replace the maple with something more visible. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/7011e482-cbb3-4822-8990-a86c21406fc8/IMG_0198.jpg My Journey - On Making Mistakes - Make it stand out I removed the maple with a tiny chisel and scraper, and replaced it with Luminlay glow in the dark material. Not only does it glow, it's whiter so more visible in good lighting too. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/97807a04-de77-4a84-8d62-97c4001a81c2/DSC06103.jpg My Journey - On Making Mistakes - Make it stand out The Luminlay needed to be inserted fairly deeply, in order to have enough material to glow after the neck was carved. Cutting such a narrow and deep channel is slow and careful work! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/3b3df397-1e6b-4d8e-acb5-0928a4354479/DSC06111.jpg My Journey - On Making Mistakes - Make it stand out Although re-doing is never much fun, I'm glad I took the time to do it. Now I have confidence the player will easily be able to find their way around the fretboard. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/18897bca-14ed-4921-a07f-6dd6e69cc436/DSC06234.jpg My Journey - On Making Mistakes - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.silvermanguitars.com/my-journey/somogyi-espalda-guitar monthly 0.5 2024-09-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/5329d5de-515c-4655-9c57-11d267e8efd9/DSC05904.jpg My Journey - Completing the Somogyi Espalda Guitar - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/cb70c0c1-beb4-4ad7-b017-1aecbcd9776f/DSC05912.jpg My Journey - Completing the Somogyi Espalda Guitar - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/82a17320-cc48-421c-9951-c0495374a76b/DSC05919.jpg My Journey - Completing the Somogyi Espalda Guitar - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/749cb3af-c005-4226-9858-b6fca3062263/DSC05913.jpg My Journey - Completing the Somogyi Espalda Guitar - Make it stand out It sure looked nice under finish. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/dbe4457f-fd46-4d51-b053-0967c2d2e12c/DSC05627.jpg My Journey - Completing the Somogyi Espalda Guitar - Make it stand out A few days before it arrived back from the finisher, I started making the bridge. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/ddd3e752-9caa-4702-bd52-d11061310e6a/DSC05944.jpg My Journey - Completing the Somogyi Espalda Guitar - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/ab8e4d2f-24c0-4905-ab66-a21addd8460e/DSC05959.jpg My Journey - Completing the Somogyi Espalda Guitar - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/0020d03c-e900-4185-b27b-3d6a987ea189/DSC05960.jpg My Journey - Completing the Somogyi Espalda Guitar - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/6c05c55a-9928-4c1e-9ee9-fe5a39418095/DSC05975.jpg My Journey - Completing the Somogyi Espalda Guitar - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/40f8cc35-085e-40c9-860a-5311588a594b/DSC05979.jpg My Journey - Completing the Somogyi Espalda Guitar - Make it stand out Then I made the nut and saddle. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/f5155bf1-e0c7-4eed-869b-e36e06f5e23c/DSC06024.jpg My Journey - Completing the Somogyi Espalda Guitar - Make it stand out Somogyi nuts are carved in between the string slots. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/34ec7596-04ca-43d2-8711-85c79611fa74/DSC06057.jpg My Journey - Completing the Somogyi Espalda Guitar - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/9a931bea-2055-474b-8e61-c60efec85d44/DSC05987.jpg My Journey - Completing the Somogyi Espalda Guitar - Make it stand out At that point, I could put the strings on and go through the steps of setting it up. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1b49632b-6cbc-4ef7-9ac4-8c7dbb64b363/DSC06048.jpg My Journey - Completing the Somogyi Espalda Guitar - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/e535fcbf-c595-4bef-9042-0f3da7c63b29/DSC06052.jpg My Journey - Completing the Somogyi Espalda Guitar - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.silvermanguitars.com/my-journey/evolution-of-an-endgraft monthly 0.5 2024-09-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/0b41563c-d2bf-4498-a79d-4c0251be660b/IMG_9539.jpg My Journey - Evolution of an Endgraft - Make it stand out I spent a lot of time playing with the arrangement of the squares, trying to find something that looked good to me. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/c40d7490-6671-4bdb-93c1-fadc3558a3d9/IMG_9557.jpg My Journey - Evolution of an Endgraft - Make it stand out I thought it was an interesting concept, but after looking at it in the context of the guitar, it seemed out of balance, maybe a bit too big, and overly busy compared to the clean lines of the rest of the guitar. I was talking with Chris Morimoto about it, and he suggested making the squares out of solid ebony, and experimenting with carving some angles to add depth and interest. He also suggested making a test piece of wood, with binding, and the same size as the location the inlay would go, to aid in visualising different ideas. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/b7f2bba9-c0bd-4dc7-9e92-9ad550b06f35/DSC05555.jpg My Journey - Evolution of an Endgraft - Make it stand out I made another set of ebony squares, and played around with carving them in different ways. I did have to remake some after trying some carvings and not liking the results. In the end I liked the look of a simple tapered bevel. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/348784d4-00cd-4bff-bd22-785bde1751f9/IMG_9934.jpg My Journey - Evolution of an Endgraft - Make it stand out I had made a set of squares laminated with black white veneers, and a set of solid ebony, so I was mixing and matching to see if I liked a combination of them. Also trying different angles and locations for the layers. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1b651805-b85e-40f0-9980-84c17ce55e74/IMG_9948.jpg My Journey - Evolution of an Endgraft - Make it stand out In the end this was the arrangement that I liked best. I taped the layers in place, and drill some holes in the corners to help line up when glueing. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/0651140b-54cc-4833-85a4-6a6d28adf1a4/DSC05561.jpg My Journey - Evolution of an Endgraft - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/765a7ba2-38a6-4d85-b531-38d4189390a4/IMG_9949.jpg My Journey - Evolution of an Endgraft - Make it stand out Then, I glued them together. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/cca405bc-5e5e-4959-a5c8-de26f8e58252/IMG_9951.jpg My Journey - Evolution of an Endgraft - Make it stand out I trimmed the edges, then added a little box around the whole thing, so it could sit below the surface of the sides. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/9c08d21e-9cc0-4d45-9f66-2fd63cc9f01e/DSC05593.jpg My Journey - Evolution of an Endgraft - Make it stand out I inlayed it in to the test piece, and experimented with different things at the bottom. I liked it most with a piece of wood matching the side material. I thought it gave an interesting illusion of depth to the sides, while keeping the focus on the squares, and maintaining a clean look. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/9e2b6597-7f06-419e-8ee8-0258545ca464/DSC05683.jpg My Journey - Evolution of an Endgraft - Make it stand out I glued a piece of rosewood at the bottom, and then it was ready to install in the guitar. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/35ebc1ab-4dc2-4227-bff7-af0b31ce3fb1/DSC05607.jpg My Journey - Evolution of an Endgraft - Make it stand out First step was to make a strip in the middle. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/03379886-0877-45cf-9238-b37d34395261/DSC05647.jpg My Journey - Evolution of an Endgraft - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/8175cac4-b89a-4994-afdb-fa7c1dfd8e8a/DSC05791.jpg My Journey - Evolution of an Endgraft - Make it stand out One detail I like, which you can see in this photo, is that there is a small gap between each of the layers. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1f57f648-00fe-4117-9c17-acf7e73155db/DSC05754.jpg My Journey - Evolution of an Endgraft - Make it stand out Then mark and cut a square shaped pocket in the end block, to accept the inlay. First I routed out most of the material. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/8d07c720-c52a-4abf-9426-b2f2e159b501/DSC05794.jpg My Journey - Evolution of an Endgraft - Make it stand out Then I chiselled to the final dimension. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/af3ebc85-249d-4201-baee-e0d2ac4c5e3f/DSC05826.jpg My Journey - Evolution of an Endgraft - Make it stand out Finally, I could glue in the inlay. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/705b96a5-0ba5-4084-b4a3-eab964bbb1e5/DSC05931.jpg My Journey - Evolution of an Endgraft - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/820fdead-2456-4169-af98-095eced5e99f/DSC05932.jpg My Journey - Evolution of an Endgraft - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/e4d3a3ea-a39a-4c36-a2f9-47ad3df03f6b/DSC05934.jpg My Journey - Evolution of an Endgraft - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.silvermanguitars.com/my-journey/learning-how-to-french-polish monthly 0.5 2024-08-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/535c07ff-db08-4ea0-92a5-9e16d66204d9/IMG_9706.jpg My Journey - Learning how to French Polish - Make it stand out First I joined the back with a tapered centerstrip. Then I sanded it, to get it ready for the pore fill. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/8a6d9c24-389d-4d88-8097-6071e03fac27/IMG_9778.jpg My Journey - Learning how to French Polish - Make it stand out I decided that instead of using the traditional pumice pore fill, I'd go with epoxy as I believe it is better suited for the job. I wiped on and squeegeed off multiple coats, until the pores were filled. Then sanded all the epoxy off the surface leaving it just in the pores. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/a23a3075-e2bf-40b1-9acc-80965a3ee391/IMG_9838.jpg My Journey - Learning how to French Polish - Make it stand out After the pore fill, I built up some shellac by wiping on multiple coats by hand. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/2a23ed36-e9e0-403c-bb96-aa7e4949593e/IMG_9858.jpg My Journey - Learning how to French Polish - Make it stand out I did a few coats, let it dry, then level sanded the surface a bit. After multiple sessions of this, I wiped on 1 final well thinned coat of shellac. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/2ed6425e-a2dc-4ce8-95a2-68f368dd82f2/IMG_9902.jpg My Journey - Learning how to French Polish - Make it stand out At this point it was time to rub out the finish to the final gloss. The traditional French polish method involves burnishing the surface with a cloth pad, shellac, oil, and alcohol to achieve the final polish. I opted to go with a different technique - sanding and buffing using modern abrasives. I polished only the left side, you can see the difference in the clarity of the reflections compared to the right. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/ffeafa6a-f685-4173-8578-549e91589bcc/IMG_9904.jpg My Journey - Learning how to French Polish - Make it stand out This was quite a worthwhile bit of practice, to figure out my process and know that it's possible to get a decent finish using what we have in the shop. I was curious how thick the finish ended up, so I scraped a patch down to the wood and measured the step with callipers. The final thickness was .0025". https://www.silvermanguitars.com/my-journey/setting-the-neck-on-a-somogyi-guitar monthly 0.5 2024-08-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/58b77cd4-b9d8-4bca-80c3-d27d556c9ee0/IMG_4616.jpg My Journey - Setting the Neck on a Somogyi Guitar - Make it stand out First I transferred my desired neck angle onto a bevel gauge. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/a5fb145f-b891-42d2-bc42-c5d8f04ed8b9/IMG_4626.jpg My Journey - Setting the Neck on a Somogyi Guitar - Make it stand out Then I put the bevel gauge into the vice on the mill, and indicated on that to set the angle of the vice to the desired angle of the neck. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/4db15970-7609-4a7d-9033-e876037d3187/IMG_4634.jpg My Journey - Setting the Neck on a Somogyi Guitar - Make it stand out Then I milled the tenon. The angle of the vice should cut the cheeks so that when they are contacting the body, the neck is at the correct angle. The milling machine also allows precise control over the depth of cut, to get the tenon to fit snugly into the mortice. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/48b0a073-8059-4596-acad-5e1a0dff38aa/IMG_4642.jpg My Journey - Setting the Neck on a Somogyi Guitar - Make it stand out After milling the tenon, I undercut the cheeks with a dovetail bit, so that only the outside of the joint is contacting the body. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/93b2fb8f-b158-4b77-93e9-8a43e6640ea0/IMG_4662.jpg My Journey - Setting the Neck on a Somogyi Guitar - Make it stand out There is a little bit of hand work to adjust the height, so that the neck sits flush with the body, and then a bit of flossing to conform the cheeks to the curved surface of the rim. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/f680f033-cdf2-47a9-ba81-6c0852b656be/3C8D5AAA-00C4-4691-8187-31E6B6CB9F72.jpg My Journey - Setting the Neck on a Somogyi Guitar - Make it stand out Here at the Somogyi workshop, you start with a tenon cut a bit oversized, and the cheeks square to the top surface of the neck. Then you basically have at it with hand tools until the neck set is good. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/f8ff01bb-b3e3-4bb6-a302-81eb8d979161/IMG_9704.jpg My Journey - Setting the Neck on a Somogyi Guitar - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.silvermanguitars.com/my-journey/binding-my-guitar monthly 0.5 2024-07-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/30c808c3-1a8f-44f2-b78f-53f628fe7266/DSC05024.jpg My Journey - Binding My Guitar - Make it stand out Fitting the top binding. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1c3475c5-b41e-4e16-aceb-6001238756f2/DSC05033.jpg My Journey - Binding My Guitar - Make it stand out Glueing. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/8c4b5a18-e4f6-4f1d-8dc6-0bd63328b0e4/DSC05059.jpg My Journey - Binding My Guitar - Make it stand out Cutaway binding clamping setup. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/e9b65ff9-92af-4687-9870-3396ca98aaec/DSC05065.jpg My Journey - Binding My Guitar - Make it stand out Fitting the purfling on the back. The arrow points to the miter joint of the two purfling strips. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/70bdad6b-a1e3-4d4a-8377-75069c85fc48/DSC05135.jpg My Journey - Binding My Guitar - Make it stand out The miter joint should be hard to detect, unless you know where to look. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/11fe4bdc-eaef-45c0-84e7-9dcd72f76fef/DSC05076.jpg My Journey - Binding My Guitar - Make it stand out After scraping down the binding. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/8c98a61e-bfa1-40e7-858a-25ca12b856c9/DSC05080.jpg My Journey - Binding My Guitar - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/f043891e-bbc6-47a1-b922-6ac040e4743f/DSC05113.jpg My Journey - Binding My Guitar - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/b0caa1f5-d7d6-434a-9a45-01a490fc2c1e/DSC05119.jpg My Journey - Binding My Guitar - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/91bb8905-cdd4-4cca-ae22-ef796d2d0edd/DSC05127.jpg My Journey - Binding My Guitar - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.silvermanguitars.com/my-journey/finish-sanding-a-somogyi-guitar monthly 0.5 2024-07-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/5c86509d-20d4-4523-9aff-2aab183b863a/DSC05003.jpg My Journey - Finish Sanding a Somogyi Guitar - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/5ab00c81-e10d-4b46-8449-5b49223fd339/IMG_9279.jpg My Journey - Finish Sanding a Somogyi Guitar - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/55828f00-e19e-420b-b8cb-6e5853940c6f/IMG_9301.jpg My Journey - Finish Sanding a Somogyi Guitar - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/2fd7f284-a898-4d1c-aa49-fa56e42d3d7a/IMG_9285.jpg My Journey - Finish Sanding a Somogyi Guitar - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/a1e10b75-24de-4016-ab68-03879d9572f9/IMG_9286.jpg My Journey - Finish Sanding a Somogyi Guitar - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/e4b5ed18-81d5-4f34-8b65-bd7d06cfc063/IMG_9450.jpg My Journey - Finish Sanding a Somogyi Guitar - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/4d3c0673-0454-46bc-a111-b4c5c04bd5ff/DSC05031.jpg My Journey - Finish Sanding a Somogyi Guitar - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.silvermanguitars.com/my-journey/opening-a-headstock-closing-a-soundbox monthly 0.5 2024-06-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1f298b89-185c-46ec-91cf-de5a3eefb2aa/IMG_8957.jpg My Journey - Opening a Headstock, Closing a Soundbox - Make it stand out Here I’ve roughly cut out the headstock on the bandsaw. Next I’ll attach the headstock template, and route the headstock outline to the final shape. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/a8bc9066-c77e-4bf9-b7c9-9c3870640ef6/DSC04839.jpg My Journey - Opening a Headstock, Closing a Soundbox - Make it stand out After routing the outline, I drill tuner holes from the side. I made a little jig to help line them up, which you can see clamped to the headstock. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/24eb0a34-c956-47db-88fb-460200294628/DSC04845.jpg My Journey - Opening a Headstock, Closing a Soundbox - Make it stand out Then I can open the central part of the headstock. I remove most of the wood with a scroll saw, then use the router with a template to get the final shape. There’s a bit of hand work after that, to refine what’s left after routing. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/f49a428a-ad65-4eae-ba05-fa0045b83c96/DSC04867.jpg My Journey - Opening a Headstock, Closing a Soundbox - Make it stand out The headstock is bevelled to give enough clearance for the strings going from the nut to the tuner. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/e7f5b458-9715-4f0a-834a-1a235eb041c4/DSC04820.jpg My Journey - Opening a Headstock, Closing a Soundbox - Make it stand out Ervin Somogyi writing on the inside of my top. I asked for a joke, but he wrote a riddle instead. It’s written backwards DaVinci style, so if you look inside with a mirror you’ll be able to read it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/514be197-444c-49a3-bc17-16495a82b04a/DSC04844.jpg My Journey - Opening a Headstock, Closing a Soundbox - Make it stand out The glue surface of the back is masked off, and shellac is sprayed to seal what will be the interior. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/fe91a598-63fd-4a06-be9a-ee1910067150/IMG_9273.jpg My Journey - Opening a Headstock, Closing a Soundbox - Make it stand out Now the back can be glued onto the rim/top assembly. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/ac1f53b7-c296-42d5-b202-cb7a3c0bb088/DSC04873.jpg My Journey - Opening a Headstock, Closing a Soundbox - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/42c20e75-50d5-453f-a537-30570be50c66/DSC04872.jpg My Journey - Opening a Headstock, Closing a Soundbox - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/ad51564b-2cc5-441c-8da1-c3b2db2e98d5/DSC04871.jpg My Journey - Opening a Headstock, Closing a Soundbox - Make it stand out I wanted to do something a bit different for the label. This is what I settled on. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/847ec9e5-c811-4dfa-99f4-a073edcaaa5e/DSC04858.jpg My Journey - Opening a Headstock, Closing a Soundbox - Make it stand out The current state of my build - The sound box is closed, fretboard made, neck in progress. Next is the binding, then setting the neck. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/900ba9a4-f3e1-4a50-b687-324cc01967f6/694ce85c-fcd4-40e5-95f3-52c47c226fac.jpg My Journey - Opening a Headstock, Closing a Soundbox - Make it stand out Ervin had his 80th birthday a couple weeks ago. Louis and I made him a cake. The recipe called for whipping the eggs, but we didn’t have the right machine. So, we had to be a bit creative. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/bd3a260d-5974-4442-95f7-8d7b6d3d68d6/IMG_8941.jpg My Journey - Opening a Headstock, Closing a Soundbox - Make it stand out Happy 80th birthday Ervin. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/5d666e03-73e1-46dc-84a0-82e543fcc108/IMG_8954.jpg My Journey - Opening a Headstock, Closing a Soundbox - Make it stand out This project’s been my main focus the past few weeks. Here Ervin is excavating for the back of neck inlays. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/f5f0b0a9-c16f-4744-a64c-3dad14afb419/DSC04800.jpg My Journey - Opening a Headstock, Closing a Soundbox - Make it stand out Then it was passed to me and Louis to fit and install the inlay strips. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/de35503b-2a3d-43ed-8427-4fd30ac20f00/DSC04814.jpg My Journey - Opening a Headstock, Closing a Soundbox - Make it stand out This one has a deadline fast approaching, so recently I’ve been spending all my time getting it ready to go off to the finisher. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/7a1f43bd-24d8-4685-884b-ca7e82bd7ea0/IMG_8945.jpg My Journey - Opening a Headstock, Closing a Soundbox - Make it stand out We had another talk with Ervin about how to top functions. These talks are goldmines of information. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/0371bd8b-62b3-4903-aeb1-321f914bd51f/IMG_8977.jpg My Journey - Opening a Headstock, Closing a Soundbox - Make it stand out Louis went through the jigs and sorted out the ones which were not used. Here’s that pile, to go into storage. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/c60129d5-7f50-4b59-983b-c6386a7f0a5e/DSC04702.jpg My Journey - Opening a Headstock, Closing a Soundbox - Make it stand out Here’s another project I’ve been working on. Binding for this 00. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/2af94432-d37b-48f9-8770-ac09766bc987/DSC04711.jpg My Journey - Opening a Headstock, Closing a Soundbox - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/a661d267-6ed2-487b-8e19-8499446c7df0/DSC04735.jpg My Journey - Opening a Headstock, Closing a Soundbox - Make it stand out The sides were a bit short, leaving a larger than usual gap over the tail block. I showed it to Ervin, and we had a discussion about options to cover it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/307e6829-ac78-4c9c-a208-19f475e1af6a/DSC04737.jpg My Journey - Opening a Headstock, Closing a Soundbox - Make it stand out We settled on the idea of making an inlay echoing the rosette. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/6660c248-7599-4500-9efb-4434f637e2fb/DSC04744.jpg My Journey - Opening a Headstock, Closing a Soundbox - Make it stand out I made a mosaic piece using buckeye burl and ebony matching the rosette. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/442716f6-8896-414b-b74a-2f3b1b0d4360/DSC04768.jpg My Journey - Opening a Headstock, Closing a Soundbox - Make it stand out Here’s what I ended up with. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/83abc492-01d3-493f-baeb-806e956f7a7f/IMG_9023.jpg My Journey - Opening a Headstock, Closing a Soundbox - Make it stand out Then Ervin took it and added his contribution, the red dot accent. I haven’t had a chance to inlay it yet, as I’ve been busy working on the Espalda guitar. Once that’s out the door I can get back to this. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/8addef58-d7dd-453f-9566-555e1a9624e2/IMG_9136.jpg My Journey - Opening a Headstock, Closing a Soundbox - Make it stand out Here I’m helping Chris Morimoto glue the fretboard on this Somogyi classical. There’s not much open time with hide glue, so having two people helps with getting the clamps on fast. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/2f950006-9217-414c-b7b1-aeb4fb69768b/IMG_9295.jpg My Journey - Opening a Headstock, Closing a Soundbox - Make it stand out Day off in San Francisco last weekend. https://www.silvermanguitars.com/my-journey/voicing-my-guitar monthly 0.5 2024-06-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/eb20b34d-6a1f-4537-aac4-7a8a2800f150/DSC04773.jpg My Journey - Voicing My Guitar - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/800568df-badb-49c5-802d-f1f3dfacb918/DSC04729.jpg My Journey - Voicing My Guitar - Make it stand out Here I’m glueing the reinforcing strips onto the back. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/9947118b-5227-46df-8862-3f585081ab9d/IMG_8820.jpg My Journey - Voicing My Guitar - Make it stand out The brace ends get trimmed down, so they can tuck into the back lining. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/5470053f-f7f3-4a60-aa07-a53627abd574/DSC04791.jpg My Journey - Voicing My Guitar - Make it stand out The braces then get shaped. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/dd11e15f-b1a0-4863-8725-7db0cd35d0e4/IMG_8845.jpg My Journey - Voicing My Guitar - Make it stand out After cutting notches in the back lining to accept the brace ends, the centre strip and reinforcing strips are trimmed to end just inside the rim. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/c4126bf7-c7a5-43b4-ac06-ffb3185362e8/DSC04787.jpg My Journey - Voicing My Guitar - Make it stand out Here I’m holding the back in place, it’s not glued yet. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/7e6c5bff-90ae-46a3-9baa-bdd2636b5f22/DSC04748.jpg My Journey - Voicing My Guitar - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/92097d72-c7ca-45c7-a645-8a12bab72bc9/IMG_8856.jpg My Journey - Voicing My Guitar - Make it stand out Next the top is fitted. The transverse brace gets notched into the lining, and head block is trimmed to fit up against it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/dcb22b43-6bd2-49f2-bd83-ffbd1e07922e/DSC04750.jpg My Journey - Voicing My Guitar - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/e8c2379b-7eff-4e08-ba91-229ce741da73/DSC04761.jpg My Journey - Voicing My Guitar - Make it stand out Once the fit is good, I glue the top to the rim. https://www.silvermanguitars.com/my-journey/projects-in-the-somogyi-workshop monthly 0.5 2024-04-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/968f1ecd-8178-40f4-ba40-c6f6e89f2155/DSC04513.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out This is Ervin’s side bending jig, the heat comes from rows of lightbulbs inside. Here I’m bending laminates for the solid linings of my build. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/394f3b00-8cff-477b-8680-81276659ccda/IMG_8496.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out Three layers of mahogany fresh out of the bending jig. They need some touching up by hand on the bending iron to be ready to be laminated for my solid linings. Note the sides which are sitting in the laminating form. The solid lining will be glued up inside of the sides, to ensure they conform accurately to the shape they need to be. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/189d3bd7-8bf9-4715-8387-d3838abac8e0/IMG_8495.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out Here I’m testing out the fit of the solid linings under clamping pressure. From the bottom up, there is the form, then the sides, then the three layers for the solid linings, then the snake which distributes the clamping pressure. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/f47bd276-d4d2-460e-bdbf-f9c6d82f9e29/DSC04542.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out Double sides, and solid linings all laminated. Sides are East Indian Rosewood/Mahogany, and linings are mahogany. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/85545c51-9189-494d-97c1-c0237abbe28a/DSC04609.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out The linings then get cut into strips. The top and the back are domed, so the linings have to be cut to match that dome. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/ed0f4dac-e936-4495-98f4-fb7f89f97e6e/IMG_8632.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out The sides go into the mould, and the tail block joining the two sides gets glued in. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1816511c-31f7-4128-ae95-e8c0cb1c3b9d/IMG_8638.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out Next the corner block is glued. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/7aaa5de0-c051-4ced-90b1-57cfbc0a7a8a/DSC04634.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out Finally the head block completes the circle. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/b9109901-dfc8-4103-bcd4-c9ec8a40acfd/DSC04636.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out And here’s the head block clamping setup from the other side. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/f04b8e54-8c3c-4f1f-90a4-5e0ee61f5f0a/DSC04649.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out The linings are cut to fit snugly in between the blocks, and are then glued in place. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/5a0b033e-6a06-421e-a1c1-a2730e0825fc/IMG_8744.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out The fit of the linings on the cutaway block is tricky due to the curved surfaces and compound angles. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/da253cf8-8149-40cc-ad77-98fa22cfc5d7/DSC04695.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out The rim after some clean up inside. Note how it’s not sitting flat on the table. This is because the back surface of the rim is shaped into a 15 foot radius dome. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/cff44a9b-da02-4c9b-8cbf-2443d0b9b96c/DSC04699.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/cc02e642-6558-46ec-afa4-0d804f06e131/IMG_8518.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out I was learning the Somogyi way of bracing a top. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/b492ca77-7808-423a-8aa0-a797fae77a32/IMG_8559.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out As I was learning the process, I was following along on the top for my own build. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/225824b0-6bfa-4107-8548-83ede64da3f9/DSC04582.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out Glueing in the bridge plate, donut, and transverse brace all at the same time, on Ervin’s top. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/5ede3c28-0151-45cc-82a9-ab1f10da65b6/DSC04652.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out Here’s my top, after bracing, with the sound hole cut out. Wish I could show you more, but there’s a few details which are somewhat of a secret. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/91458247-2b53-4826-88da-70d0327a7673/IMG_8469.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out Sometimes we have to deal with some tool maintenance. For example the starting capacitor on this dust collector keeps exploding. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/81faf062-6c1d-4cba-9f91-eec34f6e8c74/DSC04567.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out Here’s an example of a typical workflow. There’s a guitar in progress which needs a neck. There’s a shelf of neck blanks in various stages, so I go there, and grab one that looks good. I then figure out what’s going on with it and if it will be suitable for the project. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/16100f17-d10a-4dfc-a153-d647823e7e31/DSC04570.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out This particular neck needed a wing on one side, so I added one, and then carried on with the next steps of neck construction. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/b0d19842-7cd5-43bb-bf63-30924d5185e7/DSC04571.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out Taking the neck close to the final thickness taper. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/3cc4e78c-367d-47df-84b5-58751211717c/DSC04577.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out Glueing on the front of headstock veneer. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/6eb6e03e-4a3a-4e0e-ac53-0749bbae981e/DSC04586.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out Thicknessing the headstock and shaping the curve of the volute at the same time. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/9502b6e0-832e-43ff-825c-bd18cc7c545b/DSC04587.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out Bending the back of headstock veneer. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/98ea604c-877a-4431-a81e-af728f9b48cc/DSC04589.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out Glueing on the back of headstock veneer. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/312d8a81-b64a-420f-b0ad-780bc94113d4/DSC04596.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out Cutting the shoulders of the tenon. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/fef8670c-c8d8-4e84-a219-5e48cc8b734d/DSC04605.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out Drilling the tuners. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/2c21a83d-cc50-4a9c-b0d0-36dd474a2da0/DSC04614.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out Roughing in the headstock shape with the routers. The router on the left runs in reverse, allowing you to cut each part of the headstock with the grain to avoid chip out. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/95213bb9-5aa2-4758-a807-3e2a435024e7/DSC04617.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out The top part of the headstock is then shaped by hand. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/90ccded8-ec50-4eab-9e03-eda4d13e00c3/DSC04653.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out After shaping the headstock, the next steps would be to shape the tenon, and set the neck on the body. The neck set has to wait until the body is at that stage, so for now it goes back on the shelf. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/084e3697-7115-4f2f-b491-7ebf117dab23/IMG_8620.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out This Espalda guitar is about to get the fretboard glued on. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/fba60dd1-3874-4cb3-a6ae-ea38d5fe980e/IMG_8621.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out The fretboard is preheated to give more open time for the hide glue. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/a4ed3827-c590-43e3-91c6-ad420e62838e/IMG_8622.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out Fretboard clamping setup. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/f6168eb5-3b0b-4bc0-a0ce-74b8a82023ba/DSC04661.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out Louis Manteau, the other Somogyi apprentice, working on the Espalda guitar’s volute. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/9d78a76b-4ea2-4de4-9fee-c045a08e287e/IMG_8699.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out Louis preparing to glue the bridge on a Jumbo guitar. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/8e1004ca-98be-4774-82ba-5435ada8bb02/IMG_8715.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out Bridge glued on the Ervin Somogyi jumbo. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/4371f5f9-0e56-402a-95ed-0607843fc29f/IMG_8732.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out After 8 weeks, I finally upgraded from the couch to a bed. It really makes it feel a bit more like home. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/097aabf0-47ee-4159-84de-7139cdd7c43a/IMG_8661.jpg My Journey - Projects in the Somogyi Workshop From the Last Few Weeks - Make it stand out Enjoying the Oakland sun, on the front steps of the Somogyi workshop. https://www.silvermanguitars.com/my-journey/top-thicknessing-guitar-design-and-more monthly 0.5 2024-04-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/d78fee06-83fd-4582-b417-212f929b2aa4/DSC04458.jpg My Journey - Top Thicknessing, Guitar Design, and More With Ervin Somogyi - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/14dbc0e3-148a-448f-aba9-cda2200a791b/IMG_8490.jpg My Journey - Top Thicknessing, Guitar Design, and More With Ervin Somogyi - Make it stand out You can read about that in here. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/c2bc878f-5663-45c8-b16b-ec62bd859ec2/DSC04368.jpg My Journey - Top Thicknessing, Guitar Design, and More With Ervin Somogyi - Make it stand out Another in the “Espalda” series, in progress. This is not my project but thought it was worth sharing some photos. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/602230ae-bff0-4f17-977d-9fa9b6e98afc/DSC04369.jpg My Journey - Top Thicknessing, Guitar Design, and More With Ervin Somogyi - Make it stand out I did however route the binding channels on this one. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/f66737f1-6fec-4414-b861-b8abbf9d522c/DSC04389.jpg My Journey - Top Thicknessing, Guitar Design, and More With Ervin Somogyi - Make it stand out Glueing on the binding. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/40861e17-9532-4dfb-83b3-58707edfb127/DSC04371.jpg My Journey - Top Thicknessing, Guitar Design, and More With Ervin Somogyi - Make it stand out This guitar from 1983 came in for a refinish. I had the job of stripping the lacquer and then sanding. It’s now with Ervin who will do some re-voicing work, before sending it off to get French polished. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/bf3b510c-79d8-4913-8d39-5b83b69c95d3/DSC04373.jpg My Journey - Top Thicknessing, Guitar Design, and More With Ervin Somogyi - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/ec245b1f-f315-4d38-8690-1f4a48fb69f8/DSC04385.jpg My Journey - Top Thicknessing, Guitar Design, and More With Ervin Somogyi - Make it stand out Finish stripped, next up sanding. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/0ee3aba8-bca9-4ba9-b304-41629f5b928f/DSC04413.jpg My Journey - Top Thicknessing, Guitar Design, and More With Ervin Somogyi - Make it stand out Here is the jig to make lattice braces. It works well if you can decipher the instructions. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/57840c11-8e52-4bf8-8931-478a766fe3b4/DSC04484.jpg My Journey - Top Thicknessing, Guitar Design, and More With Ervin Somogyi - Make it stand out And this complex thing is to cut the fretboard slots. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/66b98f33-ec21-441e-a916-5e1b71b0e798/DSC04322.jpg My Journey - Top Thicknessing, Guitar Design, and More With Ervin Somogyi - Make it stand out Since I arrived I’ve been working on assembling this rim. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/b1edf128-bf25-48c2-9675-f05c6a805f43/IMG_8138.jpg My Journey - Top Thicknessing, Guitar Design, and More With Ervin Somogyi - Make it stand out Here’s the headblock for that guitar. It is in a jig that sands a radius on the end with matches the curve of the rim. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/ca07b5ab-4919-4daa-bdc4-b02df635065d/IMG_8155+2.jpg My Journey - Top Thicknessing, Guitar Design, and More With Ervin Somogyi - Make it stand out This jig helps to make the corner block, which goes in the corner of the cutaway. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/43fb5984-9f30-4dd6-b919-86e525974b33/IMG_8195.jpg My Journey - Top Thicknessing, Guitar Design, and More With Ervin Somogyi - Make it stand out Glueing in the headblock. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/5f7b7656-367b-43e2-9383-3e6b1c06fbd7/IMG_8253+2.jpg My Journey - Top Thicknessing, Guitar Design, and More With Ervin Somogyi - Make it stand out Glueing in the lining. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/629470b3-c5c7-4769-b5a7-2abb30fac425/DSC04327.jpg My Journey - Top Thicknessing, Guitar Design, and More With Ervin Somogyi - Make it stand out Here is the back that goes with the rim pictured above. I cut notches in the centerstrip to accept the back braces. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/7f3fd0f5-9256-451b-8369-0579e23f576c/DSC04332.jpg My Journey - Top Thicknessing, Guitar Design, and More With Ervin Somogyi - Make it stand out Glueing in the back braces. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/7c91c6af-0e0f-4de7-a80b-7a7c4214f842/IMG_8423.jpg My Journey - Top Thicknessing, Guitar Design, and More With Ervin Somogyi - Make it stand out In the process of shaping a Somogyi headstock. There are a lot of tight corners on these and the only way to do it is by hand. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/884686b9-8881-4d57-98e9-52749389a2db/IMG_8415.jpg My Journey - Top Thicknessing, Guitar Design, and More With Ervin Somogyi - Make it stand out Ervin’s jig for cutting the shoulders of the tenon. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/a3fd0eb4-ef04-458e-84dc-931b0c3f9ac2/IMG_8318.jpg My Journey - Top Thicknessing, Guitar Design, and More With Ervin Somogyi - Make it stand out The jig for routing the tenon. For this one you have to hold the router sideways. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/99b2bbd7-6371-41b1-b631-531c4c0a0d0b/IMG_8436.jpg My Journey - Top Thicknessing, Guitar Design, and More With Ervin Somogyi - Make it stand out Cutting the mortise in the body that goes with that neck. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/026c6294-0443-405b-88b6-6b252913e7c9/IMG_8491.jpg My Journey - Top Thicknessing, Guitar Design, and More With Ervin Somogyi - Make it stand out :) https://www.silvermanguitars.com/my-journey/designing-a-rosette monthly 0.5 2024-03-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/23fc59eb-0640-41d2-9c57-a57ff235004c/IMG_8384.jpg My Journey - Circles and Squares - Designing a Rosette - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/aa1f34f1-f62a-437a-b2bc-d92162b7e5a3/IMG_8031.jpg My Journey - Circles and Squares - Designing a Rosette - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/d99d99d8-1c8a-4a2d-a811-19f47c14f898/DSC04338.jpg My Journey - Circles and Squares - Designing a Rosette - Make it stand out Rosette laid out, and practice square done. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/987d5f75-2809-4e3e-97cf-bc09e8384aee/DSC04353.jpg My Journey - Circles and Squares - Designing a Rosette - Make it stand out The hook scraping tool was the blade from a fret slot cleaning tool which I sharpened and added a handle. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/09e47bb0-01bf-459f-91e8-8ce565345051/DSC04382.jpg My Journey - Circles and Squares - Designing a Rosette - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/8ac4666c-870d-4ab3-a57e-9b670d849cc6/DSC04408.jpg My Journey - Circles and Squares - Designing a Rosette - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/feb05b4b-1383-4143-9354-3d14018cddbf/DSC04440.jpg My Journey - Circles and Squares - Designing a Rosette - Make it stand out After sending it through the sander. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/4732659e-2a29-478d-8ccd-89ce708fa035/DSC04438.jpg My Journey - Circles and Squares - Designing a Rosette - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.silvermanguitars.com/my-journey/a-lesson-on-tonewood-evaluation-and-selection monthly 0.5 2024-03-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/6b032978-2d67-4aaa-a38e-eba4fbf0ee15/DSC04347.jpg My Journey - A Lesson on Tonewood Evaluation and Selection - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.silvermanguitars.com/my-journey/whats-it-like-to-be-an-ervin-somogyi-apprentice monthly 0.5 2024-03-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/4b8fb54d-e0d5-4458-b994-2c6036f88109/DSC04250.jpg My Journey - What’s it like to be an Ervin Somogyi Apprentice? My first week. - Make it stand out Here is my bedroom, you might recognise the tops on the wall from The Responsive Guitar books. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/3d536983-f1fb-44d5-b195-12202cd82444/IMG_7974.jpg My Journey - What’s it like to be an Ervin Somogyi Apprentice? My first week. - Make it stand out My first task when I arrived was to clean a bunch of sanding belts. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/fcd5acd7-2167-41ba-aa1e-abd991f087d3/IMG_8051.jpg My Journey - What’s it like to be an Ervin Somogyi Apprentice? My first week. - Make it stand out Then I moved on to making some Osage neck blanks. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/4ccbbf55-c8de-4635-8e74-148c9bdfe9e2/DSC04296.jpg My Journey - What’s it like to be an Ervin Somogyi Apprentice? My first week. - Make it stand out Ervin Somogyi’s jig for drilling holes which will create the curve of the heel and volute. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/26dbf0d6-224f-4448-9ea5-c02fb8e79e4e/DSC04261.jpg My Journey - What’s it like to be an Ervin Somogyi Apprentice? My first week. - Make it stand out Working on the design for my first build here at the Somogyi workshop. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/d84db0bf-9175-4863-862d-24d4ba5634eb/DSC04272.jpg My Journey - What’s it like to be an Ervin Somogyi Apprentice? My first week. - Make it stand out Cooking in the Somogyi kitchen. I’m trying to keep up some healthy routines. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/42259f76-827c-41aa-8107-536a80bfa08e/DSC04273.jpg My Journey - What’s it like to be an Ervin Somogyi Apprentice? My first week. - Make it stand out Ervin Somogyi’s work room. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/c7197f15-6f68-4229-a1aa-9b7069cf7941/DSC04282.jpg My Journey - What’s it like to be an Ervin Somogyi Apprentice? My first week. - Make it stand out Glueing the back onto an Ervin Somogyi classical guitar. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/7d926040-862a-4e63-b95e-b0c7e5231b5a/IMG_8052.jpg My Journey - What’s it like to be an Ervin Somogyi Apprentice? My first week. - Make it stand out Then trimming the Brazilian Rosewood back. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/80318f60-6ba7-4b9c-be8d-eb449cc55a52/DSC04279.jpg My Journey - What’s it like to be an Ervin Somogyi Apprentice? My first week. - Make it stand out Bending Brazilian Rosewood sides with Andrew. On this OM build I’ll be able to learn the Somogyi process for rim assembly. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/0810debb-6609-44c8-a641-05209ac7cb0c/DSC04286.jpg My Journey - What’s it like to be an Ervin Somogyi Apprentice? My first week. - Make it stand out Brazilian rosewood sides in the Somogyi bending jig. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/4cbdbc8e-89d0-45ac-bec1-4ce8126b54ba/IMG_8055.jpg My Journey - What’s it like to be an Ervin Somogyi Apprentice? My first week. - Make it stand out The Somogyi process involves laminating two side layers together for a more rigid construction. On this build, it’s Brazilian Rosewood on the outside, and Padauk on the inside. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/4d3635ac-02e0-4919-bcc6-2fd6f8dc4903/DSC04292.jpg My Journey - What’s it like to be an Ervin Somogyi Apprentice? My first week. - Make it stand out Ervin Somogyi’s side laminating setup. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/52d276c4-6a39-4116-a2a2-4f9f92946903/DSC04298.jpg My Journey - What’s it like to be an Ervin Somogyi Apprentice? My first week. - Make it stand out Double sides after lamination. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/3f0a2581-2aaf-46e2-a23b-f4ec4602208d/IMG_8081.jpg My Journey - What’s it like to be an Ervin Somogyi Apprentice? My first week. - Make it stand out Cleaning up the double sides for this Somogyi guitar. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/2a524442-35e0-4b36-b014-5410f170b6b4/DSC04302.jpg My Journey - What’s it like to be an Ervin Somogyi Apprentice? My first week. - Make it stand out Trying to become more at home here in the Somogyi workshop includes setting up my workbench space. There’s no convenient hooks to hang my hearing protection, so I’ve got to make do with what’s available. https://www.silvermanguitars.com/my-journey/moving-to-the-us monthly 0.5 2024-02-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/dda770c4-a15d-4779-a1d4-5c54430f1921/IMG_7864.jpg My Journey - Moving to the US - Make it stand out Workbench on the way out the door. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/767fb541-2828-42a1-869d-3cf98b42db86/IMG_7937.jpg My Journey - Moving to the US - Make it stand out Empty workshop, and confused dog. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/7bafdacb-8462-4cd4-8295-b07fc4876d3c/IMG_7945.jpg My Journey - Moving to the US - Make it stand out Goodbye Hamurana Guitar Works. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/8ae3eba8-45ad-44bd-bcf8-6bfce9c7970d/IMG_7969.jpg My Journey - Moving to the US - Make it stand out And goodbye New Zealand. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/bdbdd7f4-e420-43b4-a079-06b004ab6319/DSC04252.jpg My Journey - Moving to the US - Make it stand out After a long flight, I arrived at my home for the next two years. The legendary Ervin Somogyi workshop. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/970df3c9-5045-49ca-8c28-461b398ee3b5/DSC04255.jpg My Journey - Moving to the US - Make it stand out Welcome. https://www.silvermanguitars.com/my-journey/the-apprenticeship-interview monthly 0.5 2024-01-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/d86ac0b0-bcc0-4ff1-96f7-3be3fc26a2ef/mahoganycubebefore.jpg My Journey - The Apprenticeship Interview - Make it stand out Here’s the piece of wood I was given, and asked to make into a cube. I could take as much time as necessary, but I had to use only hand tools. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/d5073e68-0e03-4328-823a-bdb692b0370a/ervinsomogyicube.jpg My Journey - The Apprenticeship Interview - Make it stand out My finished cube. https://www.silvermanguitars.com/my-journey/applying-for-the-apprenticeship monthly 0.5 2024-01-21 https://www.silvermanguitars.com/my-journey/what-i-was-doing-before-the-ervin-somogyi-apprenticeship monthly 0.5 2024-01-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1705117145758-LB59CWU7G1PK8KP1GN2U/DSC04043.jpg My Journey - What I Was Doing Before the Ervin Somogyi Apprenticeship - 7 string zebrano top guitar with Floyd Rose, and swamp kauri back https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1705117151300-U50R7BBI7OV0WJZJ4JH9/DSC04116.jpg My Journey - What I Was Doing Before the Ervin Somogyi Apprenticeship - Swamp Kauri Guitar Body, With Bolt on Neck https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1705117128782-O1Q56VZIOF3CZNKQ5AE7/DSC02554.jpg My Journey - What I Was Doing Before the Ervin Somogyi Apprenticeship - Quilted maple top with blue and purple finish https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1705117128769-U4FRJZS0XVP59NW7JDSK/DSC02471.jpg My Journey - What I Was Doing Before the Ervin Somogyi Apprenticeship - Purple guitar, with custom fretboard inlay. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1705117264978-SYW7V4QORRPIHXF02YGW/DSC08888-2.jpg My Journey - What I Was Doing Before the Ervin Somogyi Apprenticeship - Rasta Bass, Reggae Bass https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1705117273947-3CJ7E5CDKKCGHN4E7EB9/DSC08966.jpg My Journey - What I Was Doing Before the Ervin Somogyi Apprenticeship - Heel of a Through Neck Bass with Tone Block https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1705117225786-JKTW40KZ43MZKJS5PR6V/DSC06781.jpg My Journey - What I Was Doing Before the Ervin Somogyi Apprenticeship - Electric Resonator Guitar with Copper Patina Cover Plate https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1705117252398-8JN5KNV97BJLA4IDWO31/DSC06869.jpg My Journey - What I Was Doing Before the Ervin Somogyi Apprenticeship - Shou Sugi Ban Finish Electric Resonator Guitar Body https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1705117116001-TR2JF0IP5RIBVOIIRAOG/DSC01927.jpg My Journey - What I Was Doing Before the Ervin Somogyi Apprenticeship - Through Neck Tele with Shou Sugi Ban Finish and Copper Patina Pickguard https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1705117117521-BKV0TDEH6ZKFWH5S5UK9/DSC02081.jpg My Journey - What I Was Doing Before the Ervin Somogyi Apprenticeship - Copper Patina Pickguard on Through Neck Telecaster https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1705117138603-A39MUE8U9O07IHFME2IH/DSC02870.jpg My Journey - What I Was Doing Before the Ervin Somogyi Apprenticeship - Jazz Bass with Koa Top and Ebony Pickguard https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1705117138887-WDVQ6OK4PIAHURXPJ6P1/DSC02874.jpg My Journey - What I Was Doing Before the Ervin Somogyi Apprenticeship - Glow in the Dark Luminlay Side Dots and Block Inlays https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1705117306844-6QTMS64R2U130JXQNVZZ/IMG_1125.jpg My Journey - What I Was Doing Before the Ervin Somogyi Apprenticeship - Cedar Top Acoustic Guitar https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1705117304865-TIW40TUYFH7XHYACSE58/IMG_1123.jpg My Journey - What I Was Doing Before the Ervin Somogyi Apprenticeship - Acoustic Guitar Open Headstock, With Figured Maple and Ebony https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1705117302018-Q2CD1DGLJD48TLGVP95N/IMG_0730.jpg My Journey - What I Was Doing Before the Ervin Somogyi Apprenticeship - Double Cutaway Guitar with Spalted Maple Top https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1705117299231-9W5REOYVM6FMQUNL5INZ/IMG_0558.jpg My Journey - What I Was Doing Before the Ervin Somogyi Apprenticeship - Sunburst Jazz Bass with Wood Pickguard and Maple Fretboard https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1705117264063-J7OFY4DK3JDN8W7RQ2FF/DSC07255.jpg My Journey - What I Was Doing Before the Ervin Somogyi Apprenticeship - Blue and Purple Finish Baritone Guitar with Ebony Fretboard and Luminlay Inlay https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1705117325606-YEML4OAE2YIPH7FYY0AO/IMG_9866.jpg My Journey - What I Was Doing Before the Ervin Somogyi Apprenticeship - V Guitar with Poplar Burl Top and Scalloped Ebony Fretboard https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1705117164226-RAZQ24ZS22G3PVZEKXHP/DSC06839.jpg My Journey - What I Was Doing Before the Ervin Somogyi Apprenticeship - Sculpted Through Neck Guitar Heel https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1705117322527-3IS9BBYXME2J4KPC2D1Z/IMG_9748.jpg My Journey - What I Was Doing Before the Ervin Somogyi Apprenticeship - Spalted Ebony top Telecaster Guitar https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1705117156865-6NIHKXR2A3TFF9G7R30L/DSC04166.jpg My Journey - What I Was Doing Before the Ervin Somogyi Apprenticeship - Acoustic Guitar with Open Headstock https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1705117160019-A2EVQJBH2GIF5VL5H0RM/DSC04181.jpg My Journey - What I Was Doing Before the Ervin Somogyi Apprenticeship - Acoustic Guitar with Tummy Bevel and Black Limba Back and Sides https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1705117316032-SN3M0YEL3Q7E23QQV2ZZ/IMG_9393.jpg My Journey - What I Was Doing Before the Ervin Somogyi Apprenticeship - Greek Themed Fretboard Inlay https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1705117313568-HKFO2ARA2VN6HSDAH50V/IMG_9189.jpg My Journey - What I Was Doing Before the Ervin Somogyi Apprenticeship - Tree of Death Baritone Guitar https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1705117314850-CLQSX7WSTOLVDVDJB27G/IMG_9206.jpg My Journey - What I Was Doing Before the Ervin Somogyi Apprenticeship - Tree of Death Inlay on Baritone Guitar https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1705117290415-10KQEBK5UHO1GQV40EWD/IMG_0337.jpg My Journey - What I Was Doing Before the Ervin Somogyi Apprenticeship - Acoustic Guitar Open Headstock https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1705117290412-IF8CNPBYMUP39U16F9ZH/IMG_0344.jpg My Journey - What I Was Doing Before the Ervin Somogyi Apprenticeship - Acoustic Guitar with Open Headstock https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1705117299230-YE0AJPVX0B3ZUA23GABI/IMG_0381.jpg My Journey - What I Was Doing Before the Ervin Somogyi Apprenticeship - Guitar Rosette https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1705117312206-27VGS7EBOAQGWM74XZ81/IMG_9069.jpg My Journey - What I Was Doing Before the Ervin Somogyi Apprenticeship - Carved top Guitar with F Hole https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1705117324082-MBJCGYK6AQV4QZ8TJ6AQ/IMG_9521.JPG My Journey - What I Was Doing Before the Ervin Somogyi Apprenticeship - Spalted Maple Pickguard Tele https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1705117310612-ILXGRZOOE3J7FJLV7ZD6/IMG_8891.jpg My Journey - What I Was Doing Before the Ervin Somogyi Apprenticeship - Norse Inlay with Runes Engraved in Luminlay https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1705117309226-VW0L57X0OHKDIDDRZI1C/IMG_8790.jpg My Journey - What I Was Doing Before the Ervin Somogyi Apprenticeship - Claro Walnut Carved Top Seven String Guitar with F Hole and Tremolo https://www.silvermanguitars.com/home daily 1.0 2025-06-20 https://www.silvermanguitars.com/about daily 0.75 2025-06-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/a378a0ce-6d7c-453f-ba57-502def8e8acd/maplebindingblackpurfling.jpg https://www.silvermanguitars.com/contact daily 0.75 2025-06-20 https://www.silvermanguitars.com/404 daily 0.75 2024-02-19 https://www.silvermanguitars.com/order daily 0.75 2025-12-28 https://www.silvermanguitars.com/photos daily 0.75 2024-04-12 https://www.silvermanguitars.com/photos/001 monthly 0.5 2024-03-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/df943489-8bca-4ffe-bafc-338a5bf35a89/Rosette.jpg Photos - 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Sitka Spruce top and Padauk back and sides, both from the Somogyi wood collection. Cocobolo for the fretboard. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/71beed85-d181-4a89-84f0-7223d04c8b9b/DSC08351.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 The Padauk sides have grain running at an angle. They are wide enough though to cut out the sides with straight grain. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/0610d86f-620f-45de-bf4c-e5b5482fe93f/DSC08353.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Trimming the sides. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/6b90be47-bf32-4b54-bf72-9b68a01f7300/DSC08356.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Thicknessing the sides for bending. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/c42a9b02-d10c-4390-9d36-2488869b9ab5/DSC08362.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Marking out the sides. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/fb7a9be5-6622-4d1e-ac9f-2ab7eeb7bd13/DSC08365.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Starting the bending by hand. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/863c291d-e2fe-4b55-a3ee-11f46c8ba652/DSC08367.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 The bending is roughed in by hand, and then the sides are put into the bending machine. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/d3ba775a-7afc-41ea-b266-6b194b2de413/DSC08370.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Sides in the bending machine. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/a91056e2-d6fc-4859-b6ce-49216789e9cc/DSC08375.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Double sides bent, and head and tail blocks made. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/c08308db-323e-4814-9431-038d8b24d04c/DSC08398.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Laminating the double sides. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/56bddba9-25fc-4122-91de-b5ae631f6df1/DSC08478.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Scraping the sides clean after laminating. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/60451bf1-3312-49a4-9156-f0c652f96a8e/DSC08481.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Sides laminated. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/8ddf8092-1f4f-4166-9c48-90817a221cb3/DSC08384.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Mahogany strips for the solid lining. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/45f7a88f-b29d-4943-a8e5-595b804d6314/DSC08388.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 These are all bent by hand and then bent in the bending machine. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/25028bc8-cb74-47fd-995d-30b7118196d6/DSC08489.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Then they are laminated together, with the actual sides inside of the form too, to give them the correct shape. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/69a5b8ae-c446-4bcb-bfb6-0a74f837772c/DSC08490.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Clamping setup for laminating the lining. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/e114fafc-3254-4042-9e2c-833599220832/DSC08513.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Solid lining cut out to follow the dome of the top and back. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/e10361f0-9ca3-4def-ae77-cb4573a7be0b/DSC08379.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Preparing the Padauk back for joining. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/864e3f28-e64c-46d3-bb19-75217d09b058/DSC08403.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Back joined, and index holes drilled. Marking the back. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/2af70e57-fa10-4513-9e35-4f9a31af8b27/DSC08407.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 The back is roughly cut out. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/c833d41c-cd6d-4364-96ee-642061044670/DSC08483.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Back and sides. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/410734b8-a32d-4114-bed1-6530e50f0ce4/DSC08412.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Preparing the Sitka Spruce top for joining. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/5e926884-791b-48c0-98a8-9a946eac099f/DSC08493.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Top joined, and marked. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1acb9d0a-76d9-4b81-8c38-d9e222f02821/DSC08497.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Marking the rosette. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/93cd9c20-7800-4eb3-83ae-38ccc0c371c6/DSC08498.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Rosette marked. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/75f98c8e-2955-4a4f-a7ce-4e523317fd93/DSC08509.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Top, back, and side. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/81ad17f6-0144-462e-ba37-3e37094ae96d/DSC08577.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 I taped a square template in place, and used a Dremel tool with a .5mm bit to cut most of the way. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/8b6277fd-4eb1-4573-9f62-7c28af23a1bb/DSC08580.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 The Dremel will make rounded corners, so for sharp edges it needs to be done by hand. I used a knife and a small chisel. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/08f0b4b1-32c1-481a-9a52-8731ea97fb25/DSC08583.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 The first square cut, and ready to fit and inlay the strips. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/04e57843-8454-47df-a8db-63225e9331af/DSC08589.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Cocobolo for the squares. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/fd36c4c9-873e-440b-992a-ca929173cdfb/DSC08595.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 4 strips inlaid. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/824d0af4-45d3-41d5-b33c-c9fd06f7e967/DSC08602.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 And then trimmed flush. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/eebb6973-e7b9-4850-99c2-aab98d96b212/DSC08606.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Second square in the process of being inlaid. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/ecd07485-68df-4b5f-bfc1-ab65938ba092/DSC08610.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Square 2. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/2391d6cb-29d2-4bfb-b697-994343cc21f1/DSC08619.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Square 4, with cocobolo. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/69091b78-444d-4a31-ba30-4d29e613f785/DSC08629.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Square three is inlaid with Padauk. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/0f324442-07c7-4af0-85ee-51805d6d71b5/DSC08633.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 After some cleanup sanding, the rosette is complete. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/3e42da7a-76f5-4af1-b07f-6a929b400c16/DSC08634.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/7f0e8fbe-5853-4bc0-ae62-3ea8ac0dd7b9/DSC08635.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/7f8a1176-31fe-4b1b-8953-f1d7c63c8b60/DSC08682.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Glueing the centre strip onto the back. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/2ecac30c-148d-4120-8960-227ded98a8d9/DSC08724.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 And then cutting notches in the centerstrip to fit the back braces. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/6df7d9f9-3166-4e9a-9dd0-bc6e85bb2952/DSC08733.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Glueing the back braces. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/b4eea459-783d-48aa-84df-afa490812bfc/DSC08750.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Glueing the back reinforcing strips. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/94995062-a26d-4e3f-b70d-771e5549cdcc/DSC08791.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/dc4e89e1-505e-4e6e-a885-6a1e06eb4dcf/DSC09186.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Notching the back braces for the floating back brace. This is an innovation by luthier Jeff Traugott, which helps to maintain the shape of the back dome. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/754e86ee-4f7e-4888-986c-ebccfa082683/DSC09189.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Glueing the floating back brace. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/a8145c4f-328a-4056-9ee7-8e2cf8fcdebb/DSC09204.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Planing the back braces flush with the floating brace. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/8ac11283-aa76-4b7d-aa2a-1fe5c8b09c79/DSC08930.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 After doing the rosette, the top is brought down close to final thickness. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/eb288b4f-fe05-4079-b793-487a7977975d/DSC08932.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 The top is roughly cut out. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/18a1041c-6755-424e-b985-6b6410ed0a7e/DSC08972.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Making the X brace. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/b5727ce2-ceec-42fc-b6b2-728c9b31541d/DSC08985.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Making the lattice brace using Ervin's jig. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/11eafc25-d801-4938-b3f7-e3671ae60ab7/DSC08991.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Glueing together the lattice brace. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/2a44c8a5-2357-44b7-9e41-69eb6bf430a7/DSC09063.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/cb961159-1667-4d9d-bc08-6270425e2513/DSC09145.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Glueing some braces onto the top. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/96f8af44-7fbd-4a05-bed5-58d2528cd4a4/DSC08675.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Glueing the head block onto the rim. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/07890bb5-4ed4-4d31-bf13-5477a41f2a8e/DSC09049.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Marking the top of the rim with chalk. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/749ca7a6-397b-4ad9-8415-3a4f099255da/DSC09060.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Radiusing the top of the rim. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1d3a5bcd-8e0c-415b-93b8-52f977c7b106/DSC09062.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Cutting notches for the top lining in the blocks. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/97db2899-037f-4b40-95ad-7a5610003a42/DSC09083.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Notching the lining into the tail block. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/97d92fb5-e65a-4b02-b416-d1d4215b5765/DSC09084.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 And the head block. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/bfad5fa6-9d64-4646-ae67-3431cf694de4/DSC09164.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Glueing in the top lining. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/35a3514a-13a2-4e4f-a703-a1720812e356/DSC09021.jpg Builds in Progress - 003 Planing the Cocobolo fretboard. https://www.silvermanguitars.com/builds-in-progress/002 monthly 0.5 2026-01-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/4c49de59-ae2b-4a07-a8e3-e8f843a67338/DSC07352.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Some of the wood for this MD build. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/f1af4461-6e0e-4e61-bb6b-cbfec292fd36/DSC07465.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Swiss Moon Spruce top. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/038aee1e-6deb-4fcb-bfc2-e2edbb4c501a/DSC07471.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Malaysian Blackwood back and sides. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/dee544a3-4420-4e46-adfa-2711b0ebb883/DSC07532.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 The Malaysian Blackwood had some shellac on it for protection. Here it is after sanding down to bending thickness. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/1f3384d8-56be-406d-9de6-8fd34a45309e/DSC07661.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 The sides in Ervin's bending jig. They need to be bent by hand first so they can fit in the jig. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/b0c88b65-7b4b-4d36-933f-d4ae2648a615/DSC07671.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Sides after bending. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/456de0e4-2714-4d2b-9642-e000fa45fdeb/DSC08178.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Laminating the inner and outer sides. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/d90486fd-f3e6-496b-a6c9-9adb6d7599f1/DSC08198.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Wood for the solid lining. These get bent in the same way as the sides and laminated together. Then strips are cut for the lining. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/3d6f7aa4-c91e-477e-af65-5b2b004ed24d/DSC08222.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Laminating the wood for the cutaway lining. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/26eea74e-86dc-4814-9811-0ed0bf8d8196/DSC08235.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 The linings for the top and back https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/8c5681fe-63a0-4322-a59e-44f29bc06a1a/DSC08330.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Head, tail, and corner blocks made for two guitars. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/f310553b-7ce1-4229-8453-9ec4ccc761cb/DSC08638.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 The sides are clamped in place in the mould. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/bdd62911-c3b1-48a1-8568-0b369cef06c5/DSC08657.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 And then the blocks are glued in. Tail block, and corner block first. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/ad1ac82e-eb0d-4655-881c-229deb6f5c43/DSC08669.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 And then the head block. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/f0011839-dd85-4347-99c8-fa29e73d0d01/DSC09058.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Sanding a radius onto the top of the rim. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/83c023b7-e6e8-456a-8375-461c6bf9d0e0/DSC09097.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Fitting the linings in between the blocks. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/b23d32da-7222-43da-8b7b-35a8b8cee95a/DSC09604.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Glueing the linings. The top linings are glued first, then the depth of the rim is trimmed to desired size before doing the back linings. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/28fc53cd-c09a-4b03-9124-32ea938fc497/DSC08408.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 The back is joined, thicknesses, and roughly cut out. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/ee524186-7fe0-4be5-b7d2-3ff183ec5dcf/DSC08683.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Then the centerstrip is glued. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/82208f92-76ad-45f5-9aa1-367de9f89dfd/DSC08728.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Notches are cut for the back braces. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/0484adfb-770a-4aec-8bc9-98704e0a42c2/DSC08731.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 A radius is sanded onto the braces to match the radius of the back. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/9b79a23b-ad90-4805-ba6e-41430dc4a887/DSC08735.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Then the back braces are glued in. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/ecac6316-e3da-495f-9e63-1632611dc9c7/DSC09170.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 I did a Jeff Traugott style floating brace, notched into the back braces. This helps retain the dome of the back against the force of the strings. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/04e175be-9213-409b-a23b-65a670138001/DSC09171.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/77a3d13b-2a32-48ff-b64a-5ed795adde08/DSC09363.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Carving the back braces. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/0d2bdaa7-cef3-4ed9-8eee-522bb53ae882/DSC09446.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Here's the back cleaned up and ready for fitting to the rim. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/2df2b356-6bb8-4722-9685-5d263b6f283f/DSC09614.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Notches are cut in the back lining to fit the brace ends. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/96b27c73-2afc-4362-9046-6d6ba20dbd01/DSC09627.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 And then shellac is sprayed on the inside to seal it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/5775cd1e-5f60-4450-972e-53188121b057/DSC09628.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/2c30dec4-c47e-49e3-8bb1-85a23d721c76/DSC08515.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 I collected some leaves from the neighbourhood of the shop and dried them using silica gel, for use in the rosette. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/3e51aff9-5001-43aa-8d87-adfbeb73982d/DSC08806.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 I arranged the leaves over ebony in a way I found pleasing, and added some resin to make the rosette. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/486a5d71-1eaa-4f1e-851e-66451f76df6a/DSC08913.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Cutting out the rosette. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/6adc71dd-9306-452b-af6d-bc2a169dcbc8/DSC08945.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Glueing the purfling on the rosette. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/78fcc6bd-2544-4548-bf05-3c88163c869c/DSC07490.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Planeing the edges of the top to prepare for joining them together. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/d13b7960-60a4-4747-a351-073d1cd2c165/DSC07500.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Joining the top using Ervin's jig. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/b36a72a6-4796-48d2-974e-65cf00cf3574/DSC08933.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 The top is thicknessed and cut out. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/b5ac6a40-6f86-4e5e-867b-f1ee661c7cf2/DSC08940.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 The rosette is thicker than the top, so I had to glue the soundhole reinforcing donut before I could inlay it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/ed499c25-c394-4f29-8262-d8134761fe5d/DSC08951.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Routing for the rosette in the top. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/6051bc4b-895b-4afa-9d61-90c8f5d4e540/DSC08958.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Glueing in the rosette. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/adad05cd-2181-48a2-9193-fb4734e173e1/DSC08960.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Then I sanded the rosette flush with the top. The sanding scratches reduce the clarity of the rosette somewhat, but the clarity will come back with finish. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/dcd70a79-c1e5-4d39-9d7d-361b1b5ca916/DSC08963.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/99e7d956-04d4-4cd1-a757-f92a0b30161b/DSC08972.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 X brace. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/99871391-2b91-4185-83e9-2df06772cbd8/DSC09131.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Since the donut was already in place, I notched the X and transverse braces over it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/4bfc5579-7411-473a-8513-93410fcfece3/DSC09571.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Cutting out the soundhole. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/799b848d-b96b-4fec-bbc1-434c954d4426/DSC09573.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/fadca1ad-7fc2-492a-b4fc-6909af2b3337/DSC09718.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 The rest of the top braces were added, and then I could glue on the top. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/f498faef-05cf-4375-95a0-aee628079dd2/DSC09729.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Routing the top flush with the sides. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/89ecdf58-1c74-420d-aea7-19d4c2f4ef9a/DSC09734.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 At this stage I did the voicing. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/be030730-de2c-4e5d-8070-fe231ba89a87/DSC09771.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Before glueing on the back, I made the label. The floating brace was in the way of doing a regular label on the back centerstrip, so I made this one instead. Some more info on the making of that in my blog post called "Simply a Label". Inspired by the work of Chris Morimoto. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/19865d59-2378-477c-a213-c71277845424/DSC09797.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 The back was then glued on. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/89e3d36c-2ac0-4562-b3fc-a836fa9ce574/DSC09801.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 And routed flush. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/6484d48b-94aa-4083-b404-8c556277f98d/DSC09825.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Time to make some binding! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/9bae181b-d456-4371-87e2-680e64e06668/DSC09827.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Routing the binding. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/944e58df-bfcf-4c17-9c7c-285a170b7cca/DSC09833.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Installing the binding on the back. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/9fcc7597-766c-4366-a472-dda690d58b10/DSC09839.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 With the binding installed. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/8b657dff-7bad-4a86-9e6b-5846d058dd68/DSC09841.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/2b4473e5-7811-44fa-9d2a-a815a566950c/DSC09843.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/e24b9d43-ffdb-47c9-9a67-79d04af2551f/DSC09551.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Mahogany for the neck. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/c4c6f3d7-c235-47d0-842d-aff3935f5c3f/DSC09561.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Cutting the scarf joint. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/138ead67-1940-4fff-85bb-bcbea36fb299/DSC09565.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Cleaning up the scarf joint. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/a4dd289a-4068-4404-97f7-12cfc5c5dd44/DSC09568.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Glueing the scarf going. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/4dd7f122-8f8b-4f8e-9407-634b924214c1/Headstock+final+1.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 New headstock design prototype. Inspired by the split headstock designs of Michi Matsuda. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/31230915-f755-455a-8a41-c0d0b79bd191/DSC09838.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 After thicknessing the headstock, I added the front and back veneers. For this design I wanted to have white veneer revealed only in the centre split part, and not on the edges. To create this effect, for that layer of veneer I glued up some black and white veneers like so. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/f58b5087-f533-46e3-aae7-c1f4ac6a1ce1/DSC09846.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 I then shaped the headstock. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/ebdcc4bf-e2f8-4779-b5cf-f5e616d35c67/DSC09896.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 After shaping, the white veneer was revealed partially on the sides. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/0a4d55bc-5cfd-4c6a-9aa1-31c937eac05a/DSC09898.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/5a792b25-4c6f-4bab-b691-909306f9f0a9/DSC09914.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 I chiselled out the white veneer from the sides. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/4bbd2d09-b68a-4a2e-9c2b-b0816625ff25/DSC09915.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 And glued in some black. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/8fa353a5-8491-413b-9766-7b092a5958da/DSC09916.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/5a654096-5850-40ca-b8e4-09df4b2c6206/DSC09928.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/e11d6abe-b44e-4d93-9866-d036488a7754/DSC00064.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 This way I could make the transition exactly where I wanted it to be. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/099e5b41-a7d2-4de2-b274-813c13249e28/DSC00063.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/4fc87a08-2af9-4a79-be96-cd2846c55f7c/DSC09850.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Ervin's jig for cutting fret slots. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/995e71f6-e86a-4dac-b1dc-70c561675c55/DSC09859.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Trimming the fretboard width. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/6f5fcc39-9e3b-44be-9725-321332b18190/DSC09954.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 I wanted to integrate the side fret markers into the bottom of fretboard purfling. My process for doing this was to inlay into the bottom of the fretboard. I first cut a channel for the purfling. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/18c7f0ec-fb38-49ad-8185-807faa607674/DSC09955.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Then I made a rectangle out of an off cut from the back. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/0a190cab-9838-4e8e-9ae6-666500947580/DSC09964.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 The sides had to be nice and square. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/f1b1e8ba-ddf1-4fdd-86ad-deb07fa41f50/DSC09966.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 I made a piece of purfling thinner by pulling it under the blade of this jig. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/fb7de5ab-f3e1-4bb4-9a20-7c33f970b819/DSC09968.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 And then I glued a layer of black, and then a layer of white purfling around the rectangle. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/e7de812e-5705-4cc5-b36c-0b091737c5c0/DSC09980.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 I then cut some notches in the centre of the frets to be marked. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/a6d510cd-227a-4934-944e-506610317932/DSC09987.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 And glued slices from the rectangle with purfling. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/775ede8e-ec2a-4b08-85af-9cde48bed8f4/DSC09994.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 I then fit and glued white purfling in between. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/731b0ffb-013d-48dc-9d5a-e09034186c25/DSC00001.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 And trimmed the white purfling around the rectangle down to the level of the white fretboard purfling. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/d38c9a3d-90fa-4a54-a59c-ef9a7b075441/DSC00005.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Then I fit and glued black purfling in between. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/361867d1-e061-46a2-ad44-dff7bb2410b5/DSC00017.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/ef93f3ed-955d-442b-8e67-90ceccbc9fd8/DSC00014.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 To create this effect. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/9785378d-a5a5-4d98-8929-4059a9d4c3b1/DSC00020.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/042f055d-b383-4577-9765-898deaeae19c/DSC00022.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Routing the mortise for attaching the neck. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/f9857884-6cdf-476a-974d-233d6e9d03f9/DSC00034.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Routing the tenon on the neck. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/3b8b9f29-0932-4d40-9d78-1a563fd1422d/DSC00052.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 Then fitting the tenon into the mortise and setting the neck. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/659a2b7e2a7fdb1e341f5f60/aa8fee95-929b-4b1c-ad7d-fc08d409fcfa/DSC00057.jpg Builds in Progress - 002 And drilling for the barrel nuts in the tenon.